Don't Cry for Me When It's Over
by ScreamingSatellite
Summary: AU. Hollow Victoria is a strange city. One day, when Roxas Slater falls and hits his head, it becomes an even stranger city. He encounters rich men, thieves, mysterious gangs, mistresses, and obnoxious strangers with red hair – and he thought his life was complicated before. Akuroku and maybe some Sokai.
1. Chapter I

_I_

Afternoon had already descended on Hollow Victoria when Roxas Slater left the academy. He knew what that meant and had for years: it meant the skies were dim and painted with streaks of gray clouds. It meant the streets were slick with rain and the air was heavy with humidity. He took all of it in stride as he pushed open the doors, preparing to step out of the building.

"Hey, Roxas, wait!" a voice shouted from behind him, and Roxas turned to see his brother Sora and a few of his other friends rushing up to the door. "Are you really that eager to go out in this weather?"

"Of course not," Roxas laughed. "I am just used to it by now."

He started to turn back to the door, but Sora stopped him. "Hold on just a minute. I must wait for Kairi," he informed his brother. "And you should be waiting for Naminé."

"No way," Roxas answered. "She is probably already meeting with that Riku guy."

Sora grinned. "Whatever you say."

He leaned against the door and watched the hallway behind them. Kairi approached the entrance of the building a few minutes later, her skirts swishing around her feet as she walked, with her sister Naminé at her side and two other people trailing behind them. The others were familiar to Roxas and Sora; they usually walked part of the way home with the four of them.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Kairi greeted them with a smile. She took up a spot at the front of the group next to Sora. "Ready to go?"

A chorus of murmurs of agreement rose from the group, and Kairi led them out into the Hollow Victoria afternoon. The stone steps in front of the academy looked shiny with the constant streams of rain, and Roxas kept his eyes on the ground as he walked toward them.

The steps were not located immediately in front of the academy's doors—they stood a short walk away, in fact, and before Roxas got there, he discovered that he had trailed behind the group more than he had intended. He had made it only halfway to the stairs, watching his feet, and they had already begun to descend them, to cross into the academy's courtyard. Roxas gripped the strap of his backpack in his fist and broke into a run in order to catch up.

"Roxas, what—?" a voice asked from the group ahead, and he looked up.

He reached the top step, and he felt his foot catch a spot of rainwater and go right out from under him. He grabbed for the railing next to him, but to no avail. He completely missed, his hand grasping at nothing, and for a few glorious seconds, he was suspended in the air, looking down at the ground but in no way touching it.

And, abruptly, gravity decided to pull him back to earth, and he fell.

* * *

><p><em>AN: So, hey, ScreamingSatellite here! Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger... I think. This is the first time I've tried to do an AU fic like this, and I decided to set it in one of the past few centuries, so... The dialogue ended up sounding a little formal and the setting involves lots of little random historic things. Oh and... I don't own Kingdom Hearts in any way, just saying.  
><em>

_Review if you wanna tell me what you think or if you'd like to read more; I'd appreciate it very much! :3_


	2. Chapter II

_II_

Roxas opened his eyes to see someone else standing above him, his or her face blurry and surrounded by what appeared to be a thousand candle lights. He blinked slowly, hoping his eyes would adjust.

"Roxas!" a voice chirped. The face turned away from him and announced, "He is awake!"

He sat up slowly and found that he was lying on a bed in a room he didn't recognize, surrounded by his friends. Even their other two classmates still stood there, looking at least vaguely concerned.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked. "That… looked like a pretty bad fall."

Roxas blinked hard again, trying to remember—had he fallen? He remembered running to catch up with them, and sure enough, he recalled his fall next. His head throbbed as though he was reliving the fall in exact detail. It truly did hurt.

"I think… I'm okay," Roxas said anyway, shrugging. "It cannot be that bad."

"Roxas," Kairi exclaimed. "You hit your head on that stone. It _could_ be that bad."

Roxas swung his legs over the side of the bed. Now that he looked around, he saw that he had ended up in the academy's infirmary. The light came in through only the space between the curtains and from the candles on the tables beside him, but it was enough to give him a headache; the bed that he sat on felt hard; the walls were painted an institutional off-white and the paint peeled in spots. The whole room made him feel ill even though he had only hit his head.

"I feel… okay," Roxas told her. "Truly."

He stood up on his own, without even so much as stumbling, and walked toward the door. His friends all watched him, looking like they expected him to go down at any minute.

"Are you sure you do not want to stay here for a little while longer?" Kairi asked him.

"I'm sure. I will be fine, I promise," he said with a nod.

But they did not question him further, and that made Roxas quite uneasy.

Just as he was about to open the door and walk out, though, a man in a white coat emerged from behind a curtain. "I do not think so," he stated, striding directly toward Roxas. "Sit down. You are not finished here. And I do not remember allowing visitors," he added to Roxas's friends.

Larxene, Demyx, Naminé, and Kairi mumbled a rushed "Sorry" and escaped out the door at the sight of the man, but Sora stayed. "Um, sir, w-with all due respect, Doctor Vexen, he is my brother."

"I cannot allow you to stay here and disturb my patient," the man answered. "Goodbye."

Sora shot Roxas an apologetic look before he exited the room after Kairi and the others.

"Now then," the man said, sitting down on a stool on the other side of the cramped space. He was tall and thin with long blonde hair and emerald-green eyes, and he held a quill pen and a pad of paper in his hand. "You seem to have taken quite a blow to your head… Would you mind enlightening me on what happened?"

Roxas ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed at the thought of telling this complete stranger that he had tripped down the stairs. "Well," he began, "I was running to catch up with them"—he nodded toward the door to indicate his friends who had just left—"and I slipped."

The man nodded. "Understandable. The streets are quite slippery at this time of year. You must have hit the ground hard, though, allowing that it was concrete."

Roxas pressed his lips together. The side of his skull still throbbed, so he guessed the man was right, but he didn't actually remember hitting the ground.

"Roxas Slater, is it?" the man finally asked after a long pause. "Vexen." He offered his hand for Roxas to shake, and Roxas did. "Now, Roxas, if you don't mind. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three, sir," Roxas answered without hesitating.

"Good," Vexen said, lowering his hand. "Does your head still hurt, by chance?"

"Yes," Roxas told him, rubbing the back of his head again. _But I bet it is not by chance,_ he thought bitterly.

"As I expected. Please, stand up." Vexen gestured with one hand for Roxas to get up from the cot.

Roxas stood up once again. Vexen studied him for a few moments before continuing, "Do you feel at all dizzy, or lightheaded?"

"No," Roxas told him, shaking his head.

"Then, please try walking toward the door."

Roxas did as he was told, feeling a bothersome sense of déjà vu nagging at the back of his mind. He had walked to the door not a minute ago. He just wanted to get out of here.

"You still do not feel any sort of abnormality, I presume," Vexen said, bending his head and putting pen to paper.

"No," Roxas repeated. "Is that it?"

Vexen was silent. He continued to scribble things down on his pad of paper. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he looked up and addressed Roxas. "Yes, that is all. You are free to leave. However," he added as Roxas put his hand on the door handle, eager to flee, "if you feel the need to, do come back and talk to me. I would also request that you return in one week so that I can check on you. If you do not, I may require the assistance of your parents."

"I-if you insist," Roxas said. "May I go now?"

"Go ahead," Vexen told him, gesturing toward the door with one hand and going back to his pad of paper with the other. Roxas took the opportunity to flee the room and step out into the hallway.

He expected to see his group of friends waiting for him outside the door, expected to be greeted by a wave of conversation. But there was no one in the hall; it was empty and eerily silent. Roxas swallowed hard and began his walk.

He reached the door of the academy again and walked out into the muggy Hollow Victoria streets once more. This time he didn't have anyone to catch up to, so he kept his steps marked as he moved this time, being careful not to slip. His head throbbed with pain each time one of his feet met the ground.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he stumbled again and grabbed onto the railing for support. He stood with his fingers clenched around the railing for a second, the scene from not so long ago flickering in his mind.

When Roxas Slater came to, he realized he wasn't gripping the railing at all—it was someone else's arm.

"Oh—damn! Sorry!" Roxas gasped, jumping away from the figure and releasing his death-grip on his arm. "I did not, er… see you there."

"'Tis all right," the guy answered with a shrug. Roxas looked at him and did a double take. His hair was the brightest red that he had ever seen, sticking out from his head at all sorts of angles. He had slight marks of makeup on his cheekbones just below his teal eyes, something Roxas had hardly ever seen on a man like him, but it somehow made him look sexier.

"Are you okay?" the redhead asked Roxas. "You do not look so good."

"I know," Roxas mumbled under his breath. "I just—I just fell. I will be okay; I am going home."

"Is that right?" the guy answered. "Well, fine."

He turned his back and started to walk away, but something in Roxas made him call out again. "Hey, wait a minute," he said to the red-haired man's back. The man turned around and looked curiously at Roxas again.

"Do you go to this academy?" Roxas asked. "I do not think I have ever seen you here before."

The guy grinned and shook his head. "No. I do not."

"What are you doing here?" Roxas continued his interrogation. He considered that the red-haired man might have actually been looking for him, but he discounted that idea almost at once. It was more likely that he had come to wait for his girlfriend or something. "Does your girlfriend go here?" he blurted out, unable to stop himself.

The man laughed. "Girlfriend? Me? No… No, she does not."

"So… what are you doing here?" Roxas asked.

"I was just passing through when you, well, took hold of my arm," the redhead stated. "I am not here for any sort of reason, if that is what you are asking."

"Oh." Roxas squinted at him. He was not sure why this man would be loitering around one of Hollow Victoria's high schools, and yet he was not sure why he even cared in the first place.

The redhead spun completely to face Roxas. He put his hand on his hip, and Roxas followed the motion, noticing that the man had the longest legs he had ever seen on someone of his stature. Just above his hands was his waist, which looked almost inhumanly slim.

"So, if you do not mind me asking," the redhead said, interrupting Roxas's reverie, "what _is_ your name?"

"I am, ah, Roxas. Slater." He stammered his way through the sentence. "What about you?"

"Axel Devereux," the guy answered, sliding one hand into his pocket. "Nice to meet you, Roxas Slater."

"Right," Roxas said. "Right, ah. You too."

"Do _you _go to this academy, Roxas Slater?" Axel threw the question right back at him.

"Y-yes," was Roxas's response.

Axel nodded. "Well, okay then. See you around, I guess," he said.

"See you," Roxas said under his breath as Axel Devereux disappeared.

He walked home paying more attention to the ground than he ever had before.

* * *

><p>Sora was already at their seventh-floor apartment when he got home. He and Kairi sat at the kitchen table doing schoolwork. Roxas walked in, out of breath from the long walk up the apartment stairs, and hung up his soaking-wet black cloak on the hook next to the door, announcing his presence to his brother as he entered. "Sora, I am back," he called out.<p>

"Roxas," Sora exclaimed, standing up from his seat at the table. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine. That guy—er, Vexen—let me leave." Roxas shrugged. "I feel fine."

"Well, that is good," Sora said a little uneasily, slipping back into his seat at the kitchen table. He looked between Kairi and his notes for a minute. Finally he said, "Kairi."

Kairi looked up. "What…?" she asked.

"What is the answer to this question?" he asked sheepishly, turning his book toward her.

Roxas knew that was his cue to leave. He took his backpack and crossed the hall to his room, dropping the bag outside his door and heading into the bathroom to get a towel.

As he dried off his hair and his soaking-wet clothes, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He saw with a jolt that Axel Devereux was right: he did look like hell. The color was drained from his face, and his eyes had a blank, exhausted look in them. Roxas blinked in the mirror, watching his reflection copy and wondering if this was exactly what Axel had seen.

_Whatever,_ Roxas thought, turning away. _'Tis not as though I will ever see him again anyway._

He crossed the hall to his room and spread his books and notes across his desk. The window opened up to a view of one of the lengthy streets that ran parallel to Hollow Victoria's river. That river cut a path through the entire city, and numerous bridges traversed the gap between the two halves. Roxas watched for a moment from his window as drops of rain sprinkled into the river and pedestrians ran through the storm, holding umbrellas or whatever else they could find to keep themselves dry.

Sure enough, the rain had begun to fall harder, and soon the water formed a curtain just outside, pounding the streets and the river in a relentless staccato that drove everyone inside. Roxas had watched this happen several times before, from this very window, and he knew the scene just like he knew the Hollow Victoria afternoon. Or like he _thought_ he knew, anyway.

Finally he grew tired of watching the rain outside and turned to his notes. He was just beginning to scribble some things down when the door to his room burst open and in stepped Sora.

"Holy—!" Roxas exclaimed, grabbing the edge of his desk for support. "You scared the hell out of me, Sora."

"Sorry," Sora answered, grinning. "Kairi and I were talking, and we wanted to know if you would go to dinner with us later this week."

"Ah, sure?" Roxas said. "But won't I be the third wheel?"

"Not if you let Naminé come along," Sora remarked with a smirk.

"I thought you were convinced I should date that other girl in our class, not Naminé," Roxas reminded him.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "I never said you should date Naminé in the first place, genius. Are you trying to tell me something?"

"You idiot," Roxas laughed, smacking his brother on the arm.

After a moment, Sora turned to Roxas again. "So, will you come?" he asked.

"I said I would, did I not?" Roxas returned. "Just tell me when."

He turned back to his window and saw that the rain had stopped. He thought he caught a glimpse of a flash of red hair on the street below him, but it was only the watchmen, lighting the gas lamps again after the sudden bout of rain.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Hi again! I'm back! Thanks Muffinmilk317 for the first review; I appreciate it :D  
><em>

_I hope you're at least having some sort of fun reading this story... Anyway, I always want to know how I'm doing, so please review. I'd love to hear what you think. :3_


	3. Chapter III

_III_

The tall silhouette of a man stood atop the roof of a building, his shadow defined by the light of the moon. His figure was slender, his legs long but masked by the lower half of his cloak. His hood lay carelessly about his shoulders, his hair sticking out at strange angles on his head.

"Where the hell are they…" he muttered under his breath, looking down at the dimly lit streets below him. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. The other dangled down at his side, fingers coiled around a weapon that did not have a clear outline. "Ugh, this is so dull."

Minutes passed and the man did nothing but stare at the road below. He mumbled a few curses under his breath. "They are late again," he added.

He licked his lips and turned his attention to the roofs beside him. Snapping his fingers, he allowed his weapon to disappear in a flash of flame, barely more visible than a match lit in the darkness. Then he broke into a run, jumping from one rooftop to the next, his long legs taking him easily over the gaps as he moved.

Before long he noticed another cloaked figure moving along the road below him. The tall man grinned and kept up the pace.

"Devereux!" the voice from below hissed loudly.

"What is it, Bloodworth?" the man on the rooftop called, his tone not even close to a whisper, his smile infectious. Neither one of them stopped moving.

"Will you slow down?!" the man on the road below demanded.

"Oh, is that the problem?" the first man replied sarcastically. He stopped running and leaped down from the building, landing lightly on the street next to the other man. "Maybe you should show up on time."

"Honestly, Devereux. You are running on roofs again? I swear someone is going to notice you." The other man shook his head, pushing his hood away from his face. His hair was a light shade of blue and fell easily past his shoulders.

"I have to entertain myself somehow." The first man stepped into the light, revealing that his hair was bright red. He stuck a hand into the pocket of his cloak and withdrew a cigarette, which he lit and pinched between his lips.

"Right," the blue-haired man replied, rolling his eyes. "One of these days you are going to get killed entertaining yourself, Axel."

Axel took a drag from his cigarette and grinned at the blue-haired man again, letting the smoke curl from his lips. "At least I will be entertained when I die."

The second man crossed his arms. "So, have you received our assignment for tonight?" he questioned, changing the subject.

"Yeah, and the damn shadows did not care to show up on time either," Axel growled. "They were supposed to be on this street half an hour ago, but I did not see hide or hair of them."

"Shadows," the blue-haired man echoed. "Well, at the very least, it should not be too hard."

"I hope not. I have places to be."

"Since when do you ever have places to be, Devereux?"

Axel grinned. "Since when do I not, Saïx?" he asked. "We should go knock out those shadows."

The blue-haired man stared after Axel as he dashed down the street with his weapons held out in front of him. "What am I going to do with you, Axel?" he sighed.

The two of them made their way to the front gates of Hollow Victoria. There was usually a drawbridge set out over the river, but because it was the middle of the night, the bridge had been pulled up to stand vertically as part of the wall. Saïx and Axel flanked the door, pressing close to the wall and watching through the darkness for their targets.

"I see nothing," Axel hissed.

"Calm, Devereux. Calm," Saïx reminded him.

A few minutes passed. Axel became restless and began to pace back and forth in front of the drawbridge. "Maybe it would be in our best interest to search elsewhere?" he suggested finally.

"I do not think that would be wise," Saïx replied. "If the shadows do happen to show up here, they will overrun the area without us here to stop them."

"That may be true," Axel agreed, "but what if we simply have their location wrong and they are overrunning another area unsupervised?"

Saïx sighed. "If you insist, Axel," he muttered, "we shall have to split up. I will stay here, and you may go search the rest of the city at your whim. But if you happen to screw up, do not expect me to let it go easily."

"Yeah, yeah," Axel answered with a grin. He waved a hand in Saïx's direction. "I will come back and retrieve you from your post after I defeat all of those shadows."

Saïx sighed as he watched his coworker disappear into the night.

Axel took off again, dashing down the narrow streets of Hollow Victoria with his weapons locked in his hands. He kept moving until he reached one of the neighborhoods in the center of the city. At the entrance of the area, he slowed down and leaned against the sign. Undeniably, he could hear and feel the presence of shadows.

He cursed under his breath and slipped into the area. The houses around this part of town were closer to mansions than houses in size, sitting on large lots where shadows could take refuge. Axel scanned the area in front of him, but he saw nothing. He continued on.

Leaning against one of the walls that belonged to a house closer to the center, he heard the shadows again, scrambling about in the darkness. He circled the house once but saw nothing. Axel realized what that meant—that the shadows must have taken refuge _inside _the mansion, and that he would have to go in.

His boss had trained him for this work, but he had never actually done it. Still, Axel remembered the steps. He pulled out a tool from his cloak and aimed it at the roof above him. A small chain shot out and latched onto the edge of the roof, and, using it as a rope, he began to scale the wall. About two-thirds of the way to the top, he encountered a window. He summoned one of his weapons and used the spikes to pry the window open. As soon as he had budged it enough, he swung closer to the wall, grabbed the sill for support, and dragged himself inside.

The house that he arrived in was huge. He had come in through the window of a guest room that looked like it had not been lived in for a very long time. The room alone could have been larger than many of the houses in the slums or the apartments in the middle district. The door stood slightly open, and Axel crossed the room and slipped through it, emerging into a long hallway.

He could still feel the presence of the shadows, but the house was dark and he saw no trace of them. He crept down the hallway until he reached the stairs, and he descended those, heading for the left side of the house. The pulsating of the shadows, he could tell, came from a room in that wing.

Once he reached the end of the left-side wing of the house, he came to a stop facing the largest set of doors in the hall. When he closed his eyes, he could feel the energy of the shadows lurking on the other side. Why had he and Saïx even waited for them by the front gate when they had festered in waiting right here? Axel shook his head.

He pushed the door open.

The room behind the door was huge and fully lit by several chandelier-style lights hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a ballroom, with polished floors and meticulously decorated walls. Curtains hung elegantly over a large window on the opposite side.

In the center of the room, shadows writhed, and a figure Axel recognized all too well turned to face him.

Axel tipped his head back and uttered a curse under his breath. "Master Xemnas Arkwright," he addressed the man.

Xemnas turned to face Axel, and a sarcastic smile formed on one side of his mouth, disappearing as soon as it came on. "Axel Devereux," he answered. "'Tis nice to see you."

"Liar," Axel growled.

"Why have you disobeyed orders again?" Xemnas asked, leaving the shadows behind him and taking a few steps toward Axel.

"I did not mean to disobey orders, Sir," Axel muttered. "Bloodworth and I were searching for the shadows at the city gates, but I did not see or sense any trace of them. I finally told him that it might be a better idea to split up."

"You were told never to stray from your missions," Xemnas hissed. "And that is exactly what you have done—not once, not twice, but three times—in the past two weeks."

"Sir, I beg of you. It was an accident. I sensed the shadows here. What are you doing?" Axel added as he glanced down at the writhing shadows that formed a half-circle around the place where Xemnas had stood just moments ago.

"That, Devereux," Xemnas answered, "is none of your business. You had best leave."

"I could not—" Axel began.

The lights went out, cutting him off midsentence. He heard Xemnas cry out, and just before he turned and ran from the ballroom, he saw a huge shadow appear before the man and chains lash around his wrists and ankles.

He dared not return to Saïx. Instead he fled into the city's middle district, vowing to take refuge there until things had cleared up.

* * *

><p><em>AN: So I guess this chapter covers some of Axel's side of the story instead of Roxas's ... Yeah. _

_Muffinmilk317 - Thanks for the review, again :3 About the 19th century stuff ... so you noticed ... Trust me, it's not just you. Also, yeah, theoretically, the "other girl" in the last chapter was Xion, but we haven't seen Xion just yet... ;)_

_Feel free to review with whatever you thought; I would really appreciate your feedback everyone!_

_Anyway, until next time..._


	4. Chapter IV

_IV_

Roxas woke the next morning to the sound of thunder echoing outside his window. He sat up and crossed the room, went to the window, and pushed the curtains open. Rain poured down on the city again, drenching the streets and merging with the river. All of the gas lamps on his street had gone out, leaving the road in near complete darkness.

He sighed and let the curtains fall back over the window. His head pounded again—he decided it was probably the rain. He had felt okay before going to sleep last night, after the storm had died down.

It was going to be another one of those days, he thought as he dressed and headed for the kitchen. But hopefully it wasn't one of those days that ended in him falling down the stairs, hitting his head, and winding up in the academy's infirmary.

As he ate breakfast in their cramped kitchen, watching the tiny window as streams of water poured down it and obscured the view of outside, he thought about his unexpected meeting with Axel Devereux again. There was something familiar about the man's name, but Roxas couldn't think of where exactly he had heard it before. He was so deep in thought that when Sora walked in, just the sound of his chair scraping against the floor made him jump.

"Ah," Roxas exclaimed, dropping his spoon. "I didn't know you were there."

Sora laughed. "Are you sure your head injury has not brainwashed you?"

Roxas grinned good-naturedly and went back to eating his breakfast.

"It sure looks bad out there again today," Sora remarked, trying to see out the undersized kitchen window. "Try not to slip, Rox."

"Don't call me that," Roxas laughed. "And I will be _fine_. It was just some dumb accident yesterday."

"And you are lucky that dumb accident did not crack your head open."

Roxas sighed. "Okay, okay, Sora. I will be careful, just for you."

He and Sora finished their breakfast and prepared to leave for the academy, blowing out the candles in the kitchen and plunging the apartment into darkness. Roxas locked the door on the way down the stairs, his thoughts trailing back to Axel Devereux again.

"Hey, Sora…" he began.

His brother turned back to look at him. "Yeah?"

Roxas bit his lip. "Never mind," he said. For some reason he suddenly did not want to give away the existence of the mysterious redhead. He wanted to keep the meeting all to himself, regardless of how little sense it made.

"Something wrong, Roxas?" Sora asked. "Does your head hurt or something?"

"Oh, be quiet," Roxas laughed.

They stepped out into the streets, into the mist that had had evolved from this morning's downpour. Roxas pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, but still the spray managed to infiltrate his vision. He squinted against it as he walked on.

The two brothers moved into the square, where hundreds of people circulated around them. Some were sitting at the edges of the area where the buildings created a barrier around it, huddled in corners, trying to keep dry. Others sat on the edge of the fountain that penetrated the center, enjoying the rain. Roxas and Sora passed through the torrent of people, walked right past the stalls of shopkeepers shouting sales pitches, ignored the shoulder bumps they got from walking too close to other people. Most of them wore cloaks just like they did, the hoods obscuring their faces.

Roxas squinted through the mist and thought he saw a glimpse of red hair under the hood of one of their cloaks; he blinked and it was gone.

He had little time to wonder why he had begun to see Axel Devereux everywhere after just running into him yesterday—they were already turning out of the square and onto the road that led to the academy's stone front steps. But he did know that there was something undeniably familiar about the man.

"Roxas!"

Roxas realized that he had spaced out completely. His brother stared expectantly back at him.

"Come on, we are going to be late. And you probably shouldn't try to run the rest of the way to the academy," Sora reminded Roxas.

Roxas sighed. Absently, he replied, "Yeah." He glanced over his shoulder one more time, but, seeing nothing but rain and black cloaks, he turned back and followed Sora through the academy's huge wooden doors.

The smell of rain filled the whole entryway of the academy that morning. As Roxas walked through the doors, trying not to let his boots slip on the floors made slick by rainwater, he overheard a few students talking off to his left, deep in conversation.

"Did you just say a _thief_?"

"Yeah, I did. Haven't you been listening to the news? He robbed a house on Center Street last night, apparently."

"God, I hope he doesn't go for my street next."

"You'd _better _hope. I heard he stole ten thousand munny worth of stuff."

"Damn."

Roxas ran a hand through his hair. He followed behind Sora as they moved through the entryway, looking for the rest of their friends. He wondered vaguely if those students had been making things up, or if there really was a thief. It wouldn't be the first time, of course, but the last time they had caught a thief in Hollow Victoria, a riot had practically ensued in the streets. The police had chased the thief down, finally cornering him on one of the side streets and arresting him with a crowd of a thousand people at their heels.

"Did you hear that?" he asked his brother, breaking into a jog to catch up.

"Hear what?" Sora replied. "Hey, there's Kairi and Naminé. Let's go say hi."

Roxas frowned, but followed Sora over to where the two sisters sat. Apparently Sora's girlfriend gave him tunnel vision.

"Sora, have you heard?" Kairi exclaimed. "There's a thief somewhere in Hollow Victoria!"

Roxas sighed. "That's what I was just asking him about. He never pays any attention. Is there really a thief, or is it just a rumor?"

"No, no, 'tis real. They saw him. Some man with silver hair in a cloak." Kairi shrugged. "But someone claims the owner of the house said he was wearing chains."

"Chains? The kind they use on prisoners?" Sora questioned.

"Just the kind. I don't understand how he could steal anything if he had chains on him," she answered.

"And how did he get away if they saw him?" Roxas added.

"I've no clue." Kairi shook her head. "If you really want the evidence, I suppose you'll have to go to the police. Or the town crier."

"The town crier," Sora echoed, grinning. "Definitely, Kairi."

Kairi sighed. "We should get to class."

Classes dragged by. Roxas heard nothing but rumors about the thief's exploits from last night and the sound of the rain on windowpanes. He flew out the door at the end of his last class, hardly bothering to look for Sora, not even watching his step as he sped over the wet pavement. He rounded a corner and slowed to a stop at the back of the school, not entirely sure what had compelled him to run this far.

And then.

"Yo, Roxas," a voice called out. "Careful. You don't wanna trip again, do you?"

Roxas's lips parted, but no sound escaped his mouth. Standing in front of him once again was a man with a strangely slender figure, his legs long but masked by the lower half of his cloak. His hood lay undone over his shoulders, and his hair emerged over his scalp at all sorts of angles.

It was Axel Devereux.

"What are you doing here?" Roxas stammered finally.

"Careful. Don't hurt yourself staring so hard," Axel teased him. "I heard there was a thief around here somewhere." He stuck a hand into the pocket of his cloak and withdrew a cigarette, which he lit and pinched between his lips.

"Not around here," Roxas told him. "Center Street."

"Mmm, close enough," Axel said, leaning against a wall. "Besides, I needed to get away for a while." He took a drag from his cigarette and grinned at Roxas again, letting the smoke curl from his lips.

"So you came over to the academy to smoke."

"Why not?" Axel inhaled again and flicked ashes from his hand. "Ahh."

"Well, if you have not noticed, smoking is looked down upon at academies like this one." Roxas crossed his arms. "Also, 'tis strange that this is the second day in a row I ran into you, don't you think?"

"Maybe just a little," Axel replied. Smoke escaped his lips with the words.

Roxas studied him for a moment. "You meant to come, didn't you," he said after a minute, his eyes searching the man's face.

Axel shrugged. Roxas stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to answer, but he didn't.

"Where are you from? What academy do _you_ attend?" Roxas demanded, taking a step forward. "And why do you want to come here?"

"I no longer attend an academy," Axel said. "I live on the west side of town."

Roxas's eyes widened. "So you are a college student?"

"Well, god_damn_," Axel remarked, flicking ashes from the cigarette again. "You are quite the fast learner, aren't you?"

Roxas shook his head, looking confused. After a minute he stammered, "You really should not be loitering around here, you know."

"I do not care," Axel replied. "Look, I work for an organization that really needs to know where that thief ran off to. I heard he was around here somewhere, and I decided to give it a shot. And take a break, all at the same time."

"Right," Roxas said.

"Would I lie to you?" Axel asked, and then smiled. "Scratch that. Yes, I would. But I promise I would not lie about the thief. I need to know where he went."

Roxas shrugged. "I could not tell you where he went."

"How about this, then," Axel suggested, holding up one index finger and leaning down toward Roxas. "You can help me look for the thief, and I'll… I'll do something for you."

Roxas's eyes narrowed. "Something? Such as what?"

"I do not know yet," Axel replied with an infectious smile. "I will think of something. That I do know."

"Wait," Roxas said. "I must inform my brother of where I am going."

"Oh?" Axel answered, leaning closer. "No, you do not. As of this minute, Roxas Slater, you are kidnapped."

"N-no! What are you—" Roxas began, but Axel interrupted him by putting his arms around Roxas's waist, lifting him up, and tossing him over his shoulder like a small child. "Put me down!" Roxas exclaimed, pulling at the hood of Axel's cloak.

"Roxas, you were warned. What did I tell you? You have been kidnapped," Axel answered, and began walking away from the academy.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Hello again! So, it seems that whatever happened to Xemnas in the last chapter is remaining a mystery. And Axel is up to his usual shenanigans. Trust me, more will be revealed in the next chapter ... Mwa ha ha._

_Also, Muffinmilk317: Thanks for your consistent reviews XD they are much appreciated. Good to know someone's paying attention, lol.  
><em>

_If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Please don't hesitate to review! I don't mind concrit, if you're willing to contribute some.  
><em>


	5. Chapter V

_V_

Axel carried Roxas across the street, to the place where the center of town began to fade into the west area of town. Roxas lived on the east side, and he was unfamiliar with the buildings that cluttered the west.

"If you carry me like this, people will think you are a kidnapper," Roxas accused.

"I am a kidnapper, have you forgotten? At least for the time being." Axel continued walking, refusing to let his charge go.

"A criminal, then," Roxas amended.

"Do you see where we are?" Axel asked, sweeping his free hand toward the horizon. "I have seen stranger things out here."

Roxas tensed. "I just would rather my brother not see me," he muttered.

"Does your brother live on the west side of town?" Axel asked. He had started walking again, darting around a corner and heading deeper into the area. Though the north and east parts of town were relatively well-off, even wealthy in some places, the other half, the west and south parts, were quite the opposite. The south tended toward the slum side, while the west struggled to rise above it, hardly successful because the south constantly dragged it down.

"No," Roxas admitted.

"Well, if he is not here, how do you expect him to see you?" Axel asked. "Come now, Roxas."

Roxas fell silent and stared over Axel's shoulder at the city surrounding them. They passed old, run-down apartments with broken, rusty windows; they passed provisional shops set up by the side of the road; they passed people wearing old cloaks with strange symbols and knife sheaths and other sorts of weapons Roxas had never seen before. He could see now why Axel had chosen to carry him here: in part because the action would not be seen as strange in this area, and in part because it marked Roxas as his charge, and not the business of any of these other strangers.

"Where are the police?" Roxas asked. "Should they not arrest these people for carrying weapons in the open?"

Axel snorted. "The police do not bother coming around here. Look at it." He swept his free hand through the air again. "This place is one step away from sinking to the same level as the south side of town."

Roxas shuddered. The south side of town was often described as a slaughterhouse, full of criminals and delinquents and murderers, and to walk into that area from the north or east was equivalent to putting a target on one's back and standing with raised hands in the square. Incidents revolving around citizens from the richer parts of Hollow Victoria were not common, but intense when they did take place. For instance, the thief whom the entire town had chased down years ago.

"Where are we going?" Roxas asked.

"Shhh," Axel replied. "Stop asking so many questions. You will figure it out in a moment."

He turned the corner at the end of the long street and entered a maze of buildings. Here the streets were narrower, and people flanked the walls on either side, brushing past each other and making the streets feel even more crowded. Once, a vehicle breezed by, nearly knocking over several pedestrians. Another time, a fight broke out near a shop stall right next to them.

"Axel," Roxas said.

"Calm down, it's all gonna be fine," Axel reassured him. "Trust me, I have been through here thousands of times."

The clamor on the streets began to subside as they moved further and further into the maze. In fact, Roxas noticed, as they passed a large, strangely-shaped building, the noise disappeared altogether. The air around them fell completely silent. He could see no one else around.

He could get a closer look at the building from over Axel's shoulder. The outside walls had been painted white, and a strange cross symbol stood out against those walls. The building's base began as a square, but sprouted some architecturally strange appendages on the upper levels.

"What is th—?"

"Quiet," Axel hissed, clapping his hand over Roxas's mouth. He checked over his shoulder and began to increase to a run, not even bothering to stop to round the next corner.

When he ducked around the corner, though, he came to an abrupt stop, very nearly dropping Roxas. He stumbled back a few steps, caught his balance, and snapped, "Bloodworth!"

"What—?" Roxas began again, but Axel's grip tightened around his midsection, and he stopped without finishing the question.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Axel demanded.

"Kill you?" a man's voice said. It sounded several steps deeper than Axel's, and serious. Much more serious than Axel, anyway, Roxas thought. "You are the one walking too quickly around a corner without watching where you are going. What did I tell you just last night? Someday you are going to die trying to make your errands 'enjoyable'."

"Excuse me?" Axel shot back. "How about we don't _talk _about what happened last night? Master Xemnas—"

"How about," the other man's voice repeated, "you take your own advice and don't talk about what happened?"

"How about you put me down?" Roxas demanded, this time not giving Axel a chance to hush him.

Silence fell over the three of them for a minute. The unknown man spoke first. "And who might that be, Devereux?" His voice sounded mocking.

"Part of my mission," Axel replied smoothly.

"You have no mission. I know about all of today's work assignments," the other voice snapped.

"Oh?" Axel replied. "No one said it was a work assignment."

"So you are on a mission that has nothing to do with work?" the second voice snapped.

"Come on, Saïx, cut the kid some slack," Axel complained, pulling Roxas tighter against his shoulder. "He's not from around here."

"Is that so?" the second voice—apparently belonging to a man by the name of Saïx—asked.

Roxas squirmed in Axel's grip. "I said put me down."

"Well," Saïx said, clapping his hands together as though clearing them of dirt, "I do not wish to take part in your non-work-related fetishes, Axel, so you'd best make yourself scarce before I inform our Master."

Roxas couldn't see very well over Axel's shoulder, but he was fairly sure Axel made an obscene gesture in Saïx's direction rather than saying anything else.

He beat the redhead's shoulder blades with his fists. "_Non-work-related fetishes_?" he demanded. "Axel, what is going on?"

"Sorry, Rox. Bloodworth comes off a little rough to people he's never met before," Axel commented. "Well, and people he knows, too. I guess he's just disagreeable in general. Anyway, I didn't think we'd have to run into him. Sorry."

"Don't call me that," Roxas said, but he felt his resolve ebbing away even as he said it. "And can you please put me down?"

Axel sighed. "And here I thought… Anyway, if you don't move fast enough, your feet won't be on the ground long, got it?"

The two of them started off at a run, Roxas struggling to keep up behind Axel. They only made it a few blocks, however, before Axel stopped. He swiveled around and pointed to the strange building hiding between alleyways. "That," he said, "is where I work."

"Where you work," Roxas repeated. "And what do you do?"

"Hunt," Axel answered.

"Hunt? As in animals?" Roxas asked.

"You could say that," the redhead replied vaguely.

Roxas thought for a moment. He remembered Axel standing in front of the academy, saying, _I work for an organization that really needs to know where that thief ran off to. _Remembered how he and the other man, Bloodworth, wore matching black cloaks.

"You are… an assassin?" Roxas guessed. The words made him feel ill.

Axel grinned. "You could say that," he said again. "Now, remember why you came here? To help me look for the thief, right?"

"Yes," Roxas said and swallowed hard.

"Outstanding. And do you know what our other mission is?" he prompted.

Roxas stared at him. "What?" he finally asked.

"If you see Bloodworth, run in the other direction. Do not let him see you," Axel informed him. "Bloodworth is trouble. Got it memorized?"

Roxas nodded. He wondered why he had ever agreed to this. Who in their right mind would ditch his brother and wander around town with a man who claimed he may or may not be an assassin, looking for a thief who had appeared in the middle of the night? The idea sickened him.

"Axel," he said as the red-haired man turned and began to walk away.

Axel stopped walking and swiveled to look at Roxas. "What is it?" he asked.

Roxas sighed. "I should not do this," he said. "I should not be here."

The red-haired man rolled his eyes. "Aw, come on now. Don't be such a child, Roxas," he said. "I promise I will return you to your brother before your bedtime."

Roxas glared back at him. "Fine," he shot back, crossing his arms. Sora was probably asking Kairi about their homework right this minute; he almost doubted they missed him for a moment. He wondered if they had asked about him on their walk home from the academy, if Sora had, perhaps, asked the others where Roxas had run off to so abruptly after class let out. Maybe they had not. Maybe they had left his absence alone and talked amongst themselves about other things.

And what about the invitation Sora and Kairi had extended to him for dinner? What about Naminé? What if they had decided to go out tonight, and had been forced to leave him behind? Worse, what if they had decided his lack of attendance was cause for alarm, and called the police? Roxas shook his head. He couldn't bear to think about it anymore.

"All right, have you cleared your conscience, or do you want me to help?" Axel asked, a teasing smirk flitting across his face.

Roxas stomped his foot. "That is it. I will come and help you find the thief!" he exclaimed.

"I knew you'd say yes," Axel replied, and it irritated Roxas just how much the man seemed to be able to predict—or rather, manipulate—about him. "Come on, this way."

He rounded a corner and, when Roxas looked up, he saw the redhead climbing a metal ladder that led up the side of a building. He guessed that the brick structure had to be at least five stories high, and the roof was slanted. Axel climbed a few more steps before glancing down at Roxas, whose feet still stayed on the ground, and calling out, "Are you quite done standing there? We have places to see, you know."

Roxas swallowed, remembering his painful fall from the steps in front of the academy. "No, that's fine, I will let you do it. I will come with you in a moment."

Axel grinned. "Oh, no, Roxas. This is the only mode of transportation I have ever used. Running across roofs, you know? You will grow to love it, come on."

He jumped down and grabbed Roxas's hand, ignoring the younger boy's protests.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Waaahhhh. It's been a tough week. Muffinmilk317, your review might have been the single highlight, haha. In any case, readers everywhere, I hope this story is entertaining you in some way. :)  
><em>

_I kind of felt like I was writing an episode for a TV show this time around. Weird... Maybe I've been watching too much TV._

_Anyway, until next time everyone. :3  
><em>


	6. Chapter VI

_VI_

The tiles of the roof felt slippery under Roxas's feet, and he tried not to look down for fear of falling. He had a tight grip on Axel's hand. It was a miracle the redhead hadn't told him he was cutting off his circulation yet.

"I should go home," Roxas muttered under his breath, risking a glance down at the streets below. Panic shot through him at the thought of a fall that long. His fall from the few steps of the academy had landed him in the infirmary and given him a headache he wasn't going to forget anytime soon; he didn't want to know what a fall from a three-story building would do to him.

"Did you say something?" Axel teased him, pausing and turning back to look at Roxas.

"I did not say anything, Axel," Roxas replied. "Please, keep going. Get us out of here."

A small smirk teased Axel's lips, but he turned around before Roxas could really see it. "All right," he said to the sky, "well, you know, getting out of here requires moving a little faster, if you know what I mean."

Roxas paled. "No," he said. "I am not going to run on a slanted piece of architecture three stories up—"

"No one said you had to do any running, Roxas," Axel reassured him. "All you have to do is sit there."

"Here?" Roxas said, pointing to the spot where he currently stood.

"No," Axel countered. He pulled Roxas toward him, swept him off the ground, and started to lift him over his shoulder again. "Here."

"No!" Roxas said again. "Put me down! I am not doing this again!"

"If you say so," Axel answered, lowering Roxas back down onto his feet. "But you have to promise you'll at least try."

Roxas sucked in a breath. "Fine," he answered.

"Give me your hand," Axel said, extending his hand toward Roxas. Roxas took it, but this time he felt strange doing so. He tried to ignore the feeling.

And the fear that shot through him at the thought of trying to run.

"Are you sure you do not have an irrational fear of heights?" Axel asked, glancing back at the blond boy.

"I don't know!" Roxas stammered. "I think I just have a fear of falling and dying!"

Axel burst out laughing. "Right. We'll walk first."

They moved across the roofs ahead of them, slowly at first, picking up speed as they went. Axel's feet moved deftly across the surfaces of the roofs, finding their way easily. Roxas soon fell into step, setting foot where Axel did, and he began to move more quickly, the road underneath him becoming a blur of stone and the occasional pedestrian. He began to breathe easier.

Not until Axel stopped running did Roxas realize that their hands were still joined. His gaze flicked from the scenery surrounding the buildings to their fingers intertwined between them, and he quickly pulled away. "Sorry," he muttered.

"About what?" Axel asked, putting one hand on his hip. "You did it, Roxas. You made it across the roofs without dying. And you didn't break my hand."

Roxas flushed. "I guess so," he said.

"So," the redhead suggested, "why don't you take a look around? See where we are?"

Slowly, Roxas lifted his head and looked around. Somehow they had ascended to a much higher elevation than when they had started, and the only building that stood above them was Hollow Victoria's harbinger of a clock tower, its pointed tower rising upward into the fog like a stake, announcing the city's existence. They could see almost everything from here, including the weird-looking building Axel had pointed out earlier.

"H-how many stories up are we?" Roxas stammered. He resisted the urge to latch onto Axel, to anchor himself in case he slipped. He could do this, he reminded himself. He had to get back home and make sure Sora knew he was okay.

"Probably about ten," Axel responded nonchalantly. "Maybe more."

Roxas felt the color draining from his face. "You are kidding, right?"

"Why would I be? Look at this—" Axel stopped and looked at Roxas. He sighed. "Hey, it's all right, Roxas. I would not let you fall to your death, I promise."

"P-promise?" Roxas stammered.

"Yes, I promise," Axel repeated. "Wow. I must admit, I have never seen anyone this nervous up here."

Through his fear, Roxas felt a stab of jealousy. He tried to push it away; he knew he was only being irrational because he was afraid of falling. But he couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth: "Do you take a lot of people with you to run on roofs?"

Axel shot him a sideways glance. "What? No." He turned away from the edge of the roof to face Roxas completely. "The other people I work with have been up here a few times. Like Saïx. But he just gets annoyed when I come up here; he thinks I am going to—"

"Going to what?" Roxas asked when Axel didn't continue.

"Oh, 'tis nothing," Axel replied, waving his hand in the air and forcing a laugh. "You know Saïx."

Roxas swallowed and scanned their surroundings again. "So can you see the thief from here?" he asked, rubbing his palms together.

"Hmm…" Axel leaned forward a little and shaded his eyes with his hand. "There is someone in a black cloak. Oh, no, that is definitely not him… Roxas, why don't you help me look?" he added. "All you have to do is look around a little. You do not even have to move. And remember our deal?"

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Give me a minute."

He thought back to the morning at the academy, when Kairi had told him all about the thief. _Some man with silver hair in a cloak,_ she had said. He stared hard at the streets laid out in front of them, but he saw no trace of anyone with silver hair.

"Wait." The sound of Axel's voice caused Roxas to look up from their view of the city. "Can we move, Roxas? Just once, please?"

Roxas almost said no, but he looked once at the pleading expression on Axel's face, and he sighed. "Fine."

"Good," Axel said. He began to move forward along the roof on which they currently stood, inching closer to the clock tower. Once he reached the clock tower's outer wall, he turned so that he stood with his back to it, found a foothold, and began to skirt the edge, moving step by step. He then jumped to the next roof.

Roxas stood frozen by the wall of the clock tower, wondering how he would ever make it around the corner. Carefully, without any cue from Axel, he managed to step backward and balance on the ledge. He flattened himself against the wall, keeping his hands pressed against the stone, and moved to the side a step. To his surprise, he didn't wobble. He continued on, leaving the safety net of the lower roofs behind, so that when he looked down, he saw only the street more than ten stories below. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt his way around the corner, grabbing hold of a windowsill to keep himself anchored.

He continued using windows at his handholds until he came to the place where the next roof stood waiting. Axel balanced there, holding out his hand for Roxas to take again. Roxas reached out, and Axel pulled him to the safety of the next roof. Or, at least, as safe as they could get ten stories off the ground.

"You made it, huh, Roxas," Axel commented. "You know, you are pretty brave for a guy who looked like he was going to melt at the sight of the ground earlier."

"Thanks," Roxas said. "I think."

"Well, in that case," Axel said, "we must move. I think he is still there." He began to run ahead on the roof, crouching down and picking up his pace. "Follow me!" he said over his shoulder.

Roxas followed. He lagged behind from his lack of experience with rooftop running, but he managed to keep up enough to see where Axel was going. He finally stopped and crouched down on a flat roof that overlooked a small, grassy courtyard. There, a figure in a black cloak stood at the edge of a fountain, staring into the water.

"Axel," Roxas whispered, but the red-haired man shook his head quickly at him, and he closed his mouth.

He looked more carefully at the figure in the black cloak. The man didn't wear chains on his hands or appear to have silver hair, like Kairi had said. And he didn't look like he was stealing anything. But he did stand there suspiciously, staring at the fountain.

After a few moments, the man turned around and walked into a building. He turned around so that he faced Axel for a second before he disappeared.

Axel rose up to his full height and walked back over to where Roxas sat. "Did you see that?" he asked.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Roxas told him. "Was that the thief?"

Axel shook his head. "I do not think so. He did not look like the man I am trying to find," he admitted. "We should look elsewhere."

"Wait," Roxas said. "A… a friend of mine told me about the rumors of the thief, and she said that he had silver hair and wore chains, like a slave. That man was not wearing chains… But is it true? Does he wear chains?"

Axel sucked in a breath. "Not… not usually," he began.

Roxas tipped his head to one side. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"Well," Axel began, "usually he does not wear chains, but just a few nights ago, I saw him…"

"Wait," Roxas said, panic beginning to build in his chest, "you saw the thief? More than once? What does that mean? Are you a thief, too?"

"It means—it means, well—" Axel stammered.

At that moment, a crash split the air behind them, and they turned to see that the door on the other side of the roof had been shoved open, revealing a man standing in the doorway. He wore a black cloak, the same as the man they had seen standing in the courtyard below them, but his hood was pulled back from his face, revealing that he _did_ have silver hair. His face looked dark and his amber eyes seemed to glow in the scarce light.

"Well, Axel?" he said in a deep, reverberating voice. "Answer the boy, why don't you? Are you a thief?"

"You are—you are an assassin, and a thief," Roxas stammered, rising to his feet and backing up several steps.

"Sounds to me like he is on to something," the silver-haired man said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But, Axel, tell me. Were you really planning on revealing your secrets to him? You do know that would be in direct defiance of my orders, do you not?"

Axel shook his head hastily. "No," he said. "No, I—"

He caught a glimpse of Roxas's stunned face on his other side, and he stopped midsentence. "Damn it…"

"So," the silver-haired man continued, a triumphant smile spreading across his face, "have I been downgraded to the lowly rank of thief, or are you going to greet me properly?"

"No, sir," Axel said, bending down and lowering his head before the cloaked man. "Master Xemnas Arkwright. Welcome back."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I have returned. I forgot to post last week. Wow. I'm sorry. And I was really looking forward to it too. Sigh. Anyway, Muffinmilk317, you are welcome. :) Also, thank you MyHamstersHateMe for the favorite!_

_Argh, I really hope I can keep updating this story, because I just got back to school. Time is precious. Anyway, later guys. Review if you feel like it!_


	7. Chapter VII

_VII_

Roxas couldn't quite hold in his gasp. The second it escaped his mouth, Xemnas's eyes flickered over to him. Those orange irises burned into his. He couldn't hold the man's gaze.

"I do not suppose you have told him of my true identity," Xemnas said, this time to Axel.

Roxas raised his eyes to see Axel still kneeling before Xemnas. The redhead's bravado had all but evaporated, and Roxas couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for him. "No, sir. He thinks you are a thief, like the rest of Hollow Victoria."

"A thief? So that is what they think?" Xemnas answered. "Peasants. They know so little. And you," he added, looking at Axel. "You will be punished for the damage you may have done. As will your little… _hostage_."

Roxas felt the blood drain from his face. His hands and feet felt cold, and his breaths came shallow. Axel spoke before he could, his eyes snapping up to meet Xemnas's again. "You cannot," he exclaimed. "I will not allow you to hurt Roxas."

"Roxas," Xemnas said. "Is that his name? What a fascinating name." His thin lips spread into a smile. "I dare say that knowing someone else's name gives you a great power over them."

Roxas shrank back. In front of him, Axel clenched his hands into fists, looking like he wanted to rise from his crouch and take a swing at the man. "Master Xemnas—"

"Do you mean to tell me that you will protect him if I make a move?" Xemnas snapped, his smile vanishing. "Axel, you know very well that you are not to care for anyone outside of the Organization. These are my orders. You swore on your very soul not to defy them. You know what happens if you break that oath."

"Y-yes," Axel stammered, lowering his eyes once again to the ground. "I know."

"On that note, I ask that you now accompany me and this… _deviant_ back to the headquarters." Xemnas spun around and faced the door that led away from the roof. "Do not defy my authority again, Axel."

"Yes," Axel answered. "Yes, sir. I am sorry."

Roxas paled again. "I should not go back with you. I must return home. I must get back to my brother and let him know I am okay, and—"

Xemnas cast a look at him. "You will come with us," he told Roxas. "If you do not, I promise you that you will regret it." He turned and disappeared from the roof.

Axel rose from his kneeling position. "We should follow him," he said, not even daring to risk a glance back at Roxas.

"If you are no thieves," Roxas said quietly as he began to walk away, "then what are you?"

The redhead looked back at him sadly. "I am sorry, Roxas," he said simply and stepped through the door. Roxas had no choice but to follow.

The door led to a dark, cramped stairway which sprang from a lower building made mostly of uncovered stone walls. No person dared walk the premises of that lower building; no person dared accost the three of them as they made their way through the main floor and exited into the courtyard. They entered another alley, which felt even more cramped and dark than the stairway, and soon faced the strange building with the cross symbol again. Xemnas opened the door, which stood on one side of the building, lying concealed in the white paint. He led them inside, to the entryway.

Saïx stood just beyond the door, his hood pulled back and his blue hair hanging loosely over his shoulders. Xemnas walked right past him, but Axel stopped to glare at the man.

"You told him, did you not, Bloodworth?" Axel said.

"You informed me that you had a mission outside of Master Arkwright's orders, Devereux. I had no choice," Saïx answered, shrugging.

"Bastard," Axel spat. He only got that one word free before Xemnas turned around and grabbed him by the arm. The silver-haired man kept the redhead in his iron grip even as he spun on Roxas, dragging them both off toward another door.

Every room in the headquarters was white, including the cells lining the hallway they entered. Roxas felt blinded. He had thought jails were supposed to be dark.

He hardly had time to blink before Xemnas opened one of the cell doors and threw him inside. He lost his balance, hitting the ground on his backside and nearly cracking his head on the wall behind him. Xemnas slammed the door behind him, not even allowing Roxas a second glance.

But even inside the cell, Roxas had a clear view of what was happening on the other side of the door. The door was made of bars, spaced apart enough to allow him a window to the hallway. He watched Xemnas and Axel on the other side and wished he couldn't see them at all.

"You have committed yet another offense against my rules," Xemnas informed Axel, holding him by the hood of his cloak. "Your constant disregard of the Organization's code of conduct calls for first-offense sanctions."

"No," Axel said. "You cannot mean—"

"Silence!" Xemnas snapped. He released the redhead, shoving him forward with a harsh snap of his wrist. "Remove your cloak."

"Master Arkwright—"

"Now."

"Not in front of Roxas—"

"That pitiful creature deserves to see this. Remove your cloak, Axel. Do not make me ask you again."

With shaking hands, Axel unzipped his cloak and let it fall away from his shoulders. He stood in front of Xemnas wearing only his black pants and boots, his full back in plain view from where Roxas sat.

His back was outlined by the curve and dip of muscle, of the ridge of his spine, but also by what looked like a burn scar that made dark, menacing shapes in his skin. They began in a cross and extended downward into something that looked like a fish tail, or a heart—the same strange symbol that Roxas had seen on the building's exterior. What were they, a cult? Roxas blinked as though he thought that would make the image go away.

Xemnas had walked to the edge of the room and back and now held a weapon in his right hand, the dark shadow of a whip. He gave no warning to Axel, nor did he hesitate as he raised it in the air and brought it down hard on the redhead's exposed back. The resulting crack echoed in the air. Roxas closed his eyes.

The lashes continued, crack after crack resounding in the hallway. Roxas listened to Axel's cries of pain grow more and more submissive until eventually they disappeared completely. Roxas's chest felt tight, as though someone had tied a rope around it and pulled. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes and tried to breathe.

Instead, the pain in his head returned for a moment, just before that pain was replaced by a lightness that gave way to unconsciousness.

* * *

><p><em>"Roxas… Wake up. Roxas!"<em>

He woke to Axel's voice in his ear and a hand shaking his shoulder. As soon as he blinked his eyes open, he saw Axel's silhouette slump against the wall, wincing when his back touched the white brick. "God. I thought I had lost you for a minute there."

Roxas blinked again, trying to make his eyes adjust to the darkness. He could just barely see the outline of Axel's face, the white of his eyes, the shadows of his lips.

"Are you all right?" Axel asked.

Roxas frowned. "I should ask the same of you."

"Me? Why?" Axel asked innocently.

"Your… your back…" Roxas murmured. "What happened to it?"

"That is the sanctioned punishment for defying Master Arkwright's orders once," Axel answered him, straight-faced.

Roxas shook his head. He didn't want to know what the punishment would escalate to for multiple offenses. "Yes, but… What about before that? I mean, the symbol that was already there."

"Oh, the symbol of the Nobodies." Axel shrugged, thereafter grimacing at the pain the motion caused him. "That is the symbol each member of the Organization must have branded on their bodies."

"But who are the Nobodies, and what is the Organization?" Roxas sighed.

"The Nobodies are… assassins," Axel said. "Like I told you. The Organization is the group we belong to, led by Master Xemnas."

"Why are you telling me that?" Roxas asked. "Won't… Won't Master Arkwright lash you again?"

"Not if he fails to catch me. Roxas, I cannot let you stay in this cell. I am getting you out." Axel rose to his feet and opened the cell door. "Come."

Almost reluctantly, Roxas stood, following him out into the hallway. Silently the two of them made their way back through the entrance. Axel accompanied Roxas as far as the edge of the east part of town where he lived, and there he stopped.

Roxas continued walking for a few steps, but as soon as he realized Axel no longer followed, he turned and faced him.

"Must you return to your Organization?" Roxas asked.

"Yes." Axel nodded. He bit his lip, looked down at his boots, and took a few steps forward. "Roxas, I truly am sorry for getting you into this. If you no longer want me near you I understand—"

"No," Roxas interrupted. The silence seemed to wait for his explanation. He amended, "I did not mind this afternoon."

The barest hint of a smirk twitched on the redhead's lips. "Does that mean you want me to come back for you, then?"

"I… I will not object to your return," Roxas said carefully.

"I will keep that in mind," Axel told him. "Goodbye, Roxas Slater."

"Goodbye."

Roxas watched him disappear until he was no more than a shadow in the distance, but Axel never once turned around to meet his eyes.

* * *

><p>Roxas returned home at a late hour. He heard Hollow Victoria's clock chime eleven as he ran up the steps to his family's apartment, and his breath caught in his throat. He had not come home after school with Sora, which meant he had been absent for several hours. He hoped he had not caused too much chaos.<p>

As he eased open the door to his bedroom, he heard a voice behind him. "Roxas?" it exclaimed in a half-whisper.

Roxas turned and saw Sora standing in the darkness of the kitchen, his eyes wide and his mouth open. He put his hands up as if in surrender. "Here I am," he said.

"Roxas, where have you been? You did not even return home after school!" Sora exclaimed.

"I, um… took a detour," Roxas answered.

"A detour? But Roxas…" Sora stammered. "You were gone for hours."

"I know," Roxas said. He looked down at his feet. "Were our parents worried?"

"They did not return home until very late, same as you," Sora explained. "I told them you had already gone to your room."

Roxas sighed. "I suppose I owe you, Sora," he admitted.

"Most definitely. Now," his brother continued, "you should probably go to bed."

"Yes," Roxas sighed again, "I agree."

"Good night, then."

Sora walked ahead of Roxas into the hallway that led to their rooms. Roxas followed, but as soon as he did so, he remembered the blinding light of the hallway where Master Xemnas Arkwright had punished his red-haired acquaintance. He stopped dead in the middle of the hallway and squeezed his eyes shut, but all that did was bring back the image of Xemnas standing over Axel with the whip in his hand. He walked on into his room and slammed the door shut behind him.

As soon as he was alone, he threw himself onto his bed. He wanted equally to remember and to forget the events of this afternoon. He could recall Axel's arms encircling his waist as he threw him over his shoulder; his voice saying, "As of this moment, you are kidnapped." But at the same time he remembered the lies of omission, the glossed-over reports of Axel's occupation and his association with the thieves. He wanted to forgive the redhead, but some part of him still felt just the slightest bit hurt.

But, after all, he had told Axel he would not object if Axel returned to him.

And he had not forgotten what Axel had told him when he had dragged him along on their detour in the first place.

He decided to sleep on it and see what happened in the morning.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Oh wow. I feel like a total idiot. I've been neglecting this story for the past, what... month? Eh. I'm sorry... OTL_

_Anyway... I feel the need to say that even though I was AWOL, there are still people out there reading, so thanks to everybody who followed/favorited while I was gone._

_Also, thank you as usual for any and all reviews! I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner. :D_


	8. Chapter VIII

_VIII_

In the morning, Roxas set off with Sora for the academy like he always did. Both of them proceeded to pretend that nothing had happened. Still, Roxas noticed suspicion in Sora's gaze. He guessed it was because he had never told his brother where he had really gone yesterday.

He met up with his brother and Kairi after classes ended for the day. Kairi did all the talking, and Sora listened while simultaneously shooting glances at Roxas. Roxas pretended to acknowledge both of them, but he hoped he would run into Axel or somehow formulate an excuse to get away.

As they walked toward the front doors of the academy, Roxas asked absently, "So, have you two been to dinner yet?"

Sora and Kairi exchanged glances. "No," they answered.

"Why?" Sora asked.

"I thought maybe you went without me yesterday," Roxas admitted with an embarrassed laugh.

Sora and Kairi just looked at each other again. Roxas crossed his fingers and wished that Axel could show up and kidnap him.

"A-anyway," he stammered, "I need to go to class, so I will see you later."

He turned and dashed off into the hallway.

Roxas sat through his first few classes thinking about the events of yesterday. During his fourth-period class, he realized that he had only scribbled down a few lines of notes before he had lost his concentration completely. He reread his notes, realizing with horror that instead of writing down the name of an important Hollow Victoria historical figure, he had written "Axel Devereux." He tore out the page and balled it into his fist.

"Roxas?" He looked up and realized that the teacher was staring down at him, a concerned look crossing her face. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," he said smoothly, looking at the piece of paper crumpled up in his hand. "I thought I saw a fly land on my notes, that is all."

"Are you quite certain?" she asked. "I do not remember seeing a fly in this room."

"I… uh… I do not either," Roxas said. "I… was not paying attention. I… well… I must have overreacted."

"Please try to pay more attention next time, Roxas," the teacher reminded him before turning back to the front of the room.

As soon as his fourth-period class had ended, Roxas fled both the room and the academy and ran into Hollow Victoria's brisk and cloudy afternoon. He flattened his body against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. He could still feel Axel's hands on him and smell the rain that lingered in the air so high above the ground. He could in no way concentrate on his schoolwork, and he needed to get away.

He squeezed his eyes shut harder and wished that somehow Axel would know to find him at this spot. Axel had said that he was taking college classes, hadn't he? Roxas wondered when he would leave class and traverse the busy Hollow Victoria streets, looking for the academy.

He slumped down and sat in the grass right next to the wall, closing his eyes again. He didn't intend to fall asleep, but before he knew it he had drifted off, waking only when he felt hands shaking his shoulders. He jolted into consciousness, this time actually hitting his head on the wall behind him.

"Ouch! What the—" he began, breaking off when he realized he was looking into a pair of emerald eyes, framed by red hair.

"Roxas! What do you think you are doing, sleeping when you should be in class?" Axel chided. He grinned at Roxas. All Roxas could think of was the lack of distance between the two of them.

"I—I do not know. I did not mean to fall asleep," Roxas protested lamely. "What are you doing here?"

Axel let go of Roxas's shoulders and sat back on his heels. "I am coming to see you. You said you would not object, remember?"

"I—I did," Roxas agreed. "But—I thought Xemnas—"

"Master Arkwright let me go," Axel said, cutting him off. "He said I served my time. Hey, since you are clearly not planning on returning to class, would you like to come with me to meet someone?"

Roxas opened his mouth to ask who, but instead what came out was: "Okay."

"Brilliant. Come with me," Axel said and took hold of his hand.

As they dashed through the streets, Roxas thought how incredibly strange they must look: a redhead in a black cloak holding the hand of a younger academy student, running somewhere when they both should have been in class. He looked down at Axel's fingers intertwined with his and felt a blush creep across his cheeks, but he wasn't sure why he felt so insecure about the nonchalant gesture. He pushed the thoughts away.

This time, instead of leading him to the west part of Hollow Victoria, Axel dragged him to the north. Soon, large mansions and richly decorated buildings surrounded them on all sides, rising up as high as the apartments in the slums with their many stories. Roxas wondered how Axel could possibly work in such a poor district and still know people with enough money to live in the north.

Axel slowed to a walk and let go of Roxas's hand. "Oh, I cannot remember his house number," Axel mused, scanning the houses on either side of the street. "Maybe I _should_ come to visit him more often. No. That would not go over well." He laughed softly to himself.

Finally he started up the walk of one of the mansions, beckoning Roxas after him. The house at the end of the long path was painted a dark color, and the fence surrounding it looked as though it was formed from black steel spears. Roxas raised his eyebrows at the sight and resisted the urge to grasp Axel's hand again. It looked like the kind of house that his fellow students gawked at and claimed was haunted.

Axel knocked on the door of the house three times, calling out, "Marluxia! I know you're there," and after a few seconds, another man in a black cloak opened the door and squinted at them. His hair was a pastel pink color, and his eyes were a deep sapphire blue.

"Axel. What a pleasant surprise," he said without emotion. "On what business are you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a woman emerged from the room behind him, threading her arms around his waist and skating one hand across his chest. "Oh, it _is _you, Axel. I have not seen you in such a long time," she said, a mischievous smirk crossing her face. "Not since Xemnas assigned me to you."

"Larxene, you would do well to be quiet," Marluxia said, turning to face her.

"I was about to say 'shut your damn mouth,'" Axel added under his breath.

Roxas looked between the three of them suspiciously. Clearly they all knew each other—through Xemnas, it seemed. But he couldn't be sure how, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Please, Axel, come in," Marluxia said. "Do not mind Larxene."

"Oh, no, do not mind me," Larxene echoed sarcastically, hooking an arm around Marluxia again and dragging him further into the house.

Axel and Roxas followed. They emerged into a large foyer flanked by two staircases. A chandelier hung from the ceiling above them, and paintings and plants decorated the room. Marluxia and Larxene veered left and led them into the dining room, where a long table surrounded by rows of chairs stood. Roxas wondered how anyone could possibly invite enough guests to ever fill that table.

"Larxene, pull out some chairs for them," Marluxia commanded, and Larxene detached from him to comply with his request. Axel and Roxas sat down across from the pair, and Marluxia lowered himself into a chair as well. Larxene stood at his shoulder, while he crossed his arms over his chest and eyed them.

"So, Axel, how has work been?" he asked. "Are the missions finally hard enough for you?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "They are more than enough," he muttered.

"And your friend here? Who is this?" Marluxia asked. "Is he your new assignment?"

"Absolutely not," Axel answered. "He is only a friend. He came into contact with work… _accidentally _yesterday."

"Oh? Did Xemnas…?" Marluxia began.

"He threatened to lock him up," Axel said quickly. "Nothing else."

"I see," Marluxia said, as if he knew something Axel didn't want him to know. "Why don't you introduce us? I feel as though I have been remiss in not asking straight away."

Axel cleared his throat. "Well, Roxas, this is Marluxia Ryder, a former coworker of mine," he began. "And Marluxia, this is Roxas, a friend."

"I understand," Marluxia said, nodding. "Roxas, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Marluxia," Axel said, "I need to ask a favor of you."

"Is that so?" Marluxia asked. "What would that be?"

"Something is… strange regarding Master Xemnas," Axel said hesitantly. "Saïx and I spoke about it recently."

"Ah, Bloodworth," Marluxia said, tipping his head back and laughing. "How I do not miss him."

"Anyway," Axel continued gravely, "I discovered Master Xemnas in another one of these mansions recently, almost as though he was going to rob the house, but instead he stood in the ballroom while shadows attacked him. I cannot bring myself to believe that he would allow himself to be attacked by the shadows, but there is no other explanation for it."

Marluxia's expression changed from one of nostalgia to one of grim expectation. "I do not like the sound of this," he commented. "Larxene, leave us."

"Oh, Marluxia…" Axel said, a brief smile creeping across his face. "Why don't you introduce us to your Larxene as well?"

"I seem to have forgotten about that," Marluxia remarked. "Although, Axel, I know you are already… shall I say… acquainted with her."

Axel's expression darkened again. "At the very least," he muttered.

"Yes, I will introduce her to Roxas," Marluxia answered. "Then, Roxas, this is Larxene Leighton"—he reached to his side and caught her waist, spinning her back toward the table—"my mistress."

Roxas could barely contain his surprise at Marluxia's blatant introduction. He rubbed his hands against his academy uniform pants and nodded. "Nice to meet both of you," he managed to say. As Larxene turned to leave the room and Marluxia turned to look at her, he felt Axel's hand reach out and grasp his under the table. Neither of them dared to meet the other's eyes.

"Well then," Marluxia said, turning back to face the table, "about that favor, Axel."

"Right," Axel said.

"What is it you need me to do?" the pink-haired man asked.

Axel paused a moment. He let his hand slip from Roxas's before he spoke.

"Marluxia," he said, "I need you to kill Xemnas."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I... I know I promised to get this chapter up sooner than the last one, but I've just been so busy with other things lately. I'm sorry I failed so miserably at that... anyway, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations, and whether it does or doesn't, please review! I appreciate it._

_Anyway, in other news, I'm not going to make any promises about the timing of the next chapter, but it'll be there, eventually._

_Continued thanks to my followers (and reviewers, Muffinmilk317 and MyHamstersHateMe). :)_


	9. Chapter IX

_IX_

At Axel's suggestion, Marluxia's eyes widened.

"_Kill _Xemnas?" he repeated. "I have heard wild suggestions from you, Axel, but none so severe as this. What could he possibly have done to deserve death?"

"Something has happened between him and the shadows," Axel said. "I fear his becoming one of them. We need your help, but certainly not from within the Organization."

"Well, that is fortunate," Marluxia said, smirking, "because I am no longer within the Organization."

"Right," Axel muttered. "Because you just could not stay away from the north side of town. Or your precious Larxene."

Shadows fell over Marluxia's expression. "If I remember correctly," he said, rising from his seat once again, "at some time or another you were also familiar with Larxene."

"Yes, but no longer," Axel said. "I did not enjoy her favors as much as you seem to."

"Speaking of favors," Marluxia interrupted, "why don't we stop this discussion about Larxene and speak about what you came for?"

"A valid question," Axel replied. "You _are_ still keen in your technique, are you not?"

A smirk tugged at the edge of Marluxia's mouth. He swept his hand toward the center of the table, and at the end of its arc, it held his trademark scythe right at Axel's throat.

"Of course I am," he said.

Axel's eyes flicked from the blade of the scythe to the flower petals that fell from it to Marluxia, who sat staring at him from across the table. "Brilliant. Now if you would just direct that energy at Xemnas…"

"Will do." Marluxia nodded and dismissed the weapon. More flower petals fell down onto the table. "One question, though. Where is he?"

"He is at the Organization's headquarters on the west side of Hollow Victoria," Axel told him. "Unfortunately, you would do better to travel during the day, because at night, we are supposed to run missions."

Roxas felt his chest tighten, as though someone was squeezing it again. Every time he found himself knee-deep in Axel's work, he felt as though he was already drowning. He didn't want anything to do with the work of thieves and assassins. "If you will excuse me," he said in a low voice and stood up from his chair.

He had made it halfway to the door when he heard another chair slide back on the tile floor behind him. "I am sorry, Marluxia," Axel's voice said with a nervous laugh. "I will be right back."

Axel's footsteps caught up to him, and just as he pushed open the massive dining room's door, the redhead's hand caught his arm, stopping him.

The door swung shut behind them, and Roxas turned to face Axel. The room next door to the dining room was dead silent, with no one but the two of them standing there. Axel's concerned teal eyes burned into his. "Roxas," he whispered. "Are you all right?"

"Why are you dragging me into this?" Roxas shot back. "You could have warned me you were going to be discussing _murder._"

Axel rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. "Well—I am sorry," he murmured. "I did not mean to scare you. I just thought—"

"Yes, well," Roxas said, "whatever you just thought, you can stop thinking it now, because I do not wish to be a part of this."

"I did not _ask_ you to be a part of this," Axel fired back. "Maybe I just wanted someone to come along with me. To ease the pain."

Roxas squinted at him. "What is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"Roxas," Axel said again. He paused, as though he wanted to say something but knew he couldn't afford to. "Roxas, we will talk later. I promise. I must finish my talk with Marluxia, and then we will leave. You may wait in here. Or outside."

"Fine," Roxas answered.

He stormed through the dining room and into the foyer, while Axel returned to his seat at the table and continued his discussion with the pink-haired man.

Roxas stood with his back to the wall and his arms crossed. He remembered forgiving Axel for kidnapping him while he should have gone home as his brother did, for getting caught by his boss, Master Xemnas Arkwright, and for accidentally revealing to him that he was an assassin. But suddenly he couldn't find it in him to forgive Axel anymore. The thought of being there while the two of them talked about killing a man—Roxas felt panic rising up in him as he imagined the consequences for being found out.

A shadow strode into the foyer. For a moment, Roxas thought it was Axel, and didn't move. But when the shadow moved into his field of vision, Roxas realized it was Larxene Leighton, whom Marluxia had just proclaimed was his mistress.

"So your name is Roxas," Larxene said, pressing one finger to her lips as though telling him a secret. "Roxas what?"

"Roxas Slater," Roxas answered. "Why? What is it to you?"

"Just curious," Larxene told him. "Axel was not quite clear on who you were to him. Who are you to Axel? A friend? An assignment? Perhaps Xemnas sold you?"

"I have nothing to do with Xemnas," Roxas snapped. "I hardly even know Axel. Apparently he is… an assassin or something. He did not even bother to tell me."

"Oh, he is quite the assassin," Larxene agreed. "As is Marluxia. But I find Marluxia to be the more… _graceful_ of the two."

Roxas shot a suspicious glance her way, unsure in what sense she was describing them—but certain that he did not want to ask. "Speaking of identities, who are you to Axel? How do you two know each other?"

"Well, it is certainly a long story," Larxene mused, "but the short version is that Xemnas assigned me to him and Marluxia, but Marluxia paid him off so that he could escape the Organization and take me with him."

_Why would he do that? _Roxas wanted to ask. He decided against it at the last second.

Two more shadows came into the foyer; Marluxia was in the lead, and Axel followed. "Larxene," Marluxia's voice said, "why do you stand here contaminating Roxas's head with your ideas? Please, come back with me. Axel, it was good to see you. We shall keep in touch." He took Larxene's hand and tugged her gently away from Roxas.

"We shall," Axel said with a devious smile. "See you at the Organization's headquarters."

Roxas glanced away.

As soon as they had cleared the gates at the edge of Marluxia's lawn, Axel broke into a run. "Roxas," he shouted behind him. "Come on."

Roxas had no choice but to follow Axel's pace, to continue on down the street. The sun had begun to set, to dip below the horizon and become redder in hue. The sky looked as though it had caught fire.

Closer to the center of town, Axel slowed his pace. He came to a stop in an alley and stood in the middle of it, staring up at the flame-red sky through the frame of the buildings on either side of them.

"Look at that," he said simply. "For once, it is not raining. Might as well be a miracle."

Roxas glanced back and forth, half expecting someone to launch a surprise attack from both sides of the alley. "Axel, why are we here?"

"Because," Axel began. "Well, because I need to talk to you about something, okay?"

"What is it?" Roxas asked. His eyes flicked up and met Axel's, catching the concern and the tension in his face. "Is this about what just happened earlier?"

The redhead let out a sigh. "I suppose I could not avoid this, could I?" He tipped his head back to look at the sky again. "You see, Roxas," he explained. "This is my work. I cannot get out of it, you understand."

"You cannot get out of it?" Roxas repeated. "What does that mean?"

"You saw Xemnas," Axel replied. "And you saw the brand on my back. That is the mark of the Organization—the mark of the Nobodies. By that mark, we are bound to the Organization for life."

"You cannot just run away?" Roxas asked.

"If I did," Axel continued, shrugging, "they would find me. They would see the mark on my back and know I belonged to them. And if they knew for sure I had deserted, they would probably put an end to me. You would not let that happen, would you, Roxas?"

Roxas sucked in a breath. "No."

Axel went silent for a moment. "Roxas, do you remember what you said to me at the end of our last meeting, in the prison of the Organization's building?"

"I… I told you I would not object if you returned."

"Correct," Axel confirmed. "And do you remember what I said to you when I first kidnapped you?"

Roxas shook his head.

"I told you that if you assisted me in my search for Xemnas, I would do something for you in return." He looked Roxas in the eye. "Do you remember that?"

"I am afraid I do not," Roxas murmured. "Why were you even searching for Xemnas in the first place? And why did you choose to bring me along?"

"I searched for Xemnas because on the night he broke into that house, on the night everyone thought he was a thief, he had disappeared," Axel explained. "As a member of the Organization, I was suspicious. I needed to find him and bring him back… or kill him myself." He lowered his voice. "And as for why I brought you along, I wanted your help."

Roxas didn't say anything.

"Please, Roxas," Axel continued. "I need you to accept it. It is part of what I am. And I—" He broke off, his face contorting in pain as he glanced to the side. "I must keep my promise. I can't say it any other way."

Roxas was about to ask what he meant by that, but he didn't get the chance.

Because at that moment, Axel pushed him against the wall and leaned closer.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Yes, that just happened.  
><em>

_Aha! I'm finally back! Sorry about the wait... I'll try not to do it again I promise... I know, I say it every time. OTL But I wanted to get this chapter out before Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix comes out! I'm getting it tomorrow, hopefully... I've been freaking out about it for the past week and everyone I know probably thinks I'm crazy._

_Anyway, I hope this chapter explains some things for you. I was getting a little confused myself after not having been able to write this story for so many months. And if I've confused you further, please tell me. I feel really scatterbrained with all of my many projects and schoolwork and other things._

_On another note, I watched 358/2 Days for the third time yesterday... and I cried. I managed to refrain from that when I saw it the first two times, but no more. 3_

_So yeah... reviews are appreciated! Thanks for sticking with me after all this time._

_ScreamingSatellite_


	10. Chapter X

_X_

Roxas couldn't think.

He felt the cold stone wall against his back. He felt Axel's mouth pressed against his, the warmth of his hands and chest so close. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move.

Axel drew back, his breath coming in gasps. He caught one look at Roxas's expression and grinned.

"Well then, that is all."

Roxas blinked, like he had looked into the sun. "What does that mean?"

"What do you mean, what does that mean? I kept my promise, did I not?" Axel laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out in front of him. "And you no longer wish to associate with me or the Organization, so I guess I have finished here." He shrugged.

"Wait—hold on," Roxas began, but Axel had already turned and started walking the other direction.

"Goodbye, Roxas. And thank you," he called over his shoulder.

"Axel," Roxas said.

The redhead disappeared around the corner.

Roxas slid down against the wall, confused. One moment Axel Devereux had stood there, in front of him, speaking in code, talking of assassinations and allegiance. There was that unmistakable pain in his eyes and in his voice. And then—then he had just walked away, continued on as though nothing had happened, as though he didn't give a damn about Roxas anyway.

"Axel," Roxas said aloud, even though he really spoke to a stone wall. "Why did you do that? Why did you… kiss me?"

And what about finding his way home? Did he really expect Roxas to do that himself?

Roxas stood up and walked down the alley, retracing Axel's footsteps, expecting to find him standing just outside the walls that framed the road. _Just kidding,_ he would probably say. Except he didn't. He had completely vanished.

Roxas turned and walked down the open street in a trance. Half with relief and half with dread, he realized he recognized the area: they had stopped in the center of Hollow Victoria, near the academy, and he could get home from here in just a few minutes. And well he should, he realized, because the sun had already begun to disappear below the horizon, and shadows were beginning to dominate the area.

Sora would wonder where he had gone—again.

Minutes later, Roxas arrived at home, turning the key in the lock on the door and stepping inside. He found his brother sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework. Their parents were nowhere to be seen.

Sora looked up at his approach. "Roxas," he said, surprised. "Where did you go after school ended?"

"I… ah." Roxas bit his lip. "I went… for a walk."

"You are simply lucky our parents have not returned yet," Sora sighed, shaking his head. "If they had, I do not know what kind of excuse I would have come up with. Besides, you still owe me for last time."

"Oh… yes." Roxas let a nervous laugh escape his lips.

"And one other thing. Roxas?" Sora asked.

"What?"

"Where did you _really_ go after school ended?"

Roxas squeezed his eyes shut. He could not bring himself to tell Sora that he had escaped with an older student who may or may not have almost gotten him killed, and who may or may not have developed some strange sort of feelings for him. He could not bring himself to say that he had visited assassins, rich men, and the mistresses of those rich men.

"Why must you know?" Roxas demanded. "Is it so critical? Perhaps it is my business."

"Of course it is your business," Sora replied. "But for that reason it is also _my _business. You are my brother, are you not?"

Roxas could not argue. Instead he stared at the floor.

"So," Sora said. "Out with it. Where have you been?"

Something snapped inside Roxas, and he burst out, "Who are you, my mother?" and dashed off to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Sora followed him, knocking and demanding that Roxas come back out and talk to him, that he didn't mean any harm, that he only wanted to know what was going on. He stopped knocking, he pleaded—but Roxas didn't show.

Roxas lay facedown on his bed, squeezing his eyes shut and trying hard not to let the hitches in his breath turn to sobs. He hated lying to his brother, hated letting his brother lie to his parents. He hated the way Axel had turned away as though he had ceased to care. And he hated himself for becoming attached to the redhead in the first place.

Sora's voice faded away outside Roxas's door, and Roxas rolled onto his side, staring out the window. The sun and the red hue it had earlier colored the sky had completely disappeared, giving way to complete blackness, not even marred by Hollow Victoria's usual rain.

Roxas wished it would rain.

_What do I feel? _he wondered. _And why do I feel it?_

He hadn't even noticed that he had felt something for Axel Devereux until, abruptly, Axel Devereux had decided to leave him.

* * *

><p>Roxas awoke the next morning with another headache. The pain that throbbed through his skull reminded him of the day he had slipped and fallen on the stairs outside of the academy. He closed his eyes and envisioned the steps in front of the building, the row of steps he had completely missed—and then the place where he had run into Axel Devereux just hours later.<p>

_Are you okay?_

_I'm Axel Devereux._

_See you around, I guess._

He dragged himself out of bed and looked out the window. Once again, rain poured from the skies and pelted the streets. The rain had extinguished the gas lamps, plunging the streets into darkness. Roxas could see the dim shapes of carriages and foot traffic moving slowly along below despite the lack of light.

Someone knocked on his door, and Roxas turned from the window to see his brother standing in the doorway with an apologetic look on his face.

"Roxas," Sora said, "you do know that we have to go to the academy this morning, right?"

Roxas closed his eyes. "I have a headache, Sora," he said. "Go without me."

"I cannot do that," Sora replied. "You need a note to be able to miss classes."

"Write one for me, then." Roxas turned back to the window.

He heard Sora's footsteps come into his room, and within a few seconds his brother stood at his side, facing the curtains that fell over the glass panes.

"Roxas," Sora began, "are you all right?"

"I do not think so," Roxas answered. "I believe I need some rest."

Sora sighed. "Roxas, try to come with me to the academy," he said. "If you really need rest, you can go to the infirmary."

"If I die of pneumonia before we get there, 'tis your fault."

"I will accept that blame," Sora replied. "Just come."

"Fine." Roxas rubbed his fingers against his temples as he followed his brother out of the room and through the house, throwing his cloak on over his clothes and pulling the hood up as far over his face as he could.

The academy was more crowded than usual and everyone was soaking wet from the rain, but despite the clamor, Roxas felt unbearably alone. He kept searching the crowds subconsciously for Axel, but of course, Axel was never there.

"Roxas? Roxas!" A voice spoke his name, and Roxas glanced up to see Naminé looking up at him. "Are you okay? You have not even taken off your hood."

Roxas reached up and found that she was right—his hood still fell over his hair and into his eyes. In one swift motion, he pulled it away from his face and looked out at her. "Sorry, Naminé," he muttered.

She studied his expression for a moment. "Roxas, you really do not look good. Are you all right?" she asked.

"I will be fine," Roxas answered. "Trust me, I have already gotten the same lecture from Sora."

"You know," Naminé said after a pause, looking away, "Sora has been really worried about you lately."

Roxas frowned. "He has?"

"Yes," Naminé confirmed. "I walked home from the academy with them yesterday, and all he could talk about was you. He said you had disappeared from school and came home late at night."

"He told you that?" Roxas asked. The statement made him feel queasy. What reason would Sora have had to tell anyone else, even Naminé?

"He did," Naminé answered. "Is it true?"

"What do you care?" Roxas snapped. Immediately he wanted to take the words back, but he knew he couldn't, and looked away.

"Sora cares," Naminé told him. "You would not want him to be so concerned about you all the time, would you, Roxas?"

Roxas sighed.

"And," Naminé added, "I care about you, too. I will always be there, Roxas, if you need my help."

"I—I am sorry," Roxas muttered. "I did not mean—what I said. I just do not feel well, and—"

"I understand," Naminé said. "But I think you should talk to Sora. Tell him what is going on. I think he will understand, too."

_I disagree, _Roxas wanted to say. Would anyone understand his relationship with a guy who had kidnapped him and dragged him away from the academy, a guy who claimed to be a thief and an assassin, a guy who had walked away from him just yesterday like he no longer cared?

"I guess," he said instead.

The bell rang, and the students in the academy's entryway began to disperse. Naminé held out her hand to Roxas. "I will take your cloak, if you want."

Roxas shook his head. "No, that is fine. I could not burden you with such a thing."

"If you insist." She smiled at him and disappeared into the crowd.

His first few classes felt as though they lasted ten years. During lunch, Roxas stepped outside, taking refuge under the overhang of part of the academy's roof and listening to the rain. The deluge made it nearly impossible to see anything but a sheet of gray water falling down everywhere.

But he could see the presence of a black cloak, moving in the darkness, coming ever closer.

"Axel," Roxas whispered, "I swear if that is you, I—"

A voice cut through the sounds of the storm, causing him to break off midsentence. "Roxas Slater, is it?"

It took him a minute to process what he had heard.

He recognized the voice: it belonged to none other than Saïx Bloodworth.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Okay. I'm back! I know it's only been 3-ish days, but I just felt like putting this out there. Thanks to any and all new or consistent people who have followed/favorited "Don't Cry for Me." (Thank you MyHamstersHateMe for more reviews)  
><em>

_But Muffinmilk317, where have you gone? 0_o_

_The next chapter will backpedal in terms of time, by the way, and tell Axel's point of view... so be ready for that soonish.  
><em>


	11. Chapter XI

_XI_

_Twelve hours earlier_

Axel regretted it.

He kept trying to forget what he had done just hours earlier, letting his feet take him from roof to roof and over the gaps. He wanted to forget. The memory distracted him.

When he let his memory drift back to Roxas for just a split second, his foot went out from under him and he fell forward, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. He rolled onto his side and toward the edge of the roof. His hand shot out as he tried to catch himself, but his hand slipped against the metal and he fell again. He landed on his face on the street. The air left his lungs a second time. The pain tightened around his chest like a rope.

"Kingdom Hearts," he gasped.

"Axel, what did I tell you?" a voice berated from a few feet away. Axel heard the footsteps of another member of the Organization approach him and groaned. Why did he have to show up now, of all times? "Had you fallen from a few stories higher, you might very well be dead."

"Oh yeah?" Axel replied. "If I should be so dead, why do you not just put a bullet in my head right now?"

He looked up through the haze and the shadows and saw Saïx glaring down at him. "If you have not yet noticed, my specialty is not with bullets."

"Well, with whatever weapon you have on you. I do not care. Please, be my guest. End it now," he coughed.

"What is your issue?" Saïx asked, scowling. "You usually do not talk of death so freely."

Axel finally found the strength to peel himself off of the ground. "Because," he gasped, "Xemnas, while absent, wants to have my head; you believe I am incompetent; Marluxia may or may not carry out his end of the deal; and I have lost Roxas."

Saïx fell silent for a moment. "Marluxia?" he said after a pause.

"In case you were wondering, yes, he is still alive," Axel responded.

"Brilliant." Saïx pressed his lips together, clearly displeased. "And what of Xemnas? I have not even seen him."

"Right," Axel agreed. "Absent without leave. I suppose we should hope he is not out robbing more houses."

"He never robbed any houses."

"He did break into them, though."

"As did you."

Axel sighed and crossed his arms. "Are there any other points you would like to contradict, Bloodworth?" he snapped.

"I do have one question," Saïx muttered. "Why are you out here at this time of night, running on rooftops? If Xemnas is absent, you cannot be running missions for him."

"You are correct," Axel said.

"So then, what are you doing?" Saïx asked, shaking his head.

"Running," Axel replied. "I need space. I needed to get out of the Organization's walls. I cannot think in there."

"You cannot think out here, either. Look at yourself," Saïx sighed. "Falling off of roofs. Somewhere, somehow, you will kill yourself doing this."

"Maybe that is the point."

Saïx snorted. "Somehow I doubt that, Devereux, as easy as it would be to think you are that much of an imbecile."

Axel clenched his fist and slammed it against the stone wall behind him. The pain in his hand intensified, and he realized that his attempt to catch himself on the roof had cut both his gloves and his hands, making them bleed. His blood dripped on the ground next to him, black in the darkness.

"Look what you have done," Saïx sighed. "In the morning, someone will believe there was a murder here."

"Why can you not listen to me for once, Saïx?" Axel screamed, rushing the other cloaked man and shoving him into the opposite wall. "Xemnas is insane, you and Roxas both hate me, I cannot stand Larxene, and I can barely tolerate my job in the Organization. What do I have left? Can you please tell me that?"

"Unhand me," Saïx stated.

Axel let go of him, but collapsed to his knees on the street. "If I only did not have the symbol of the Nobodies branded into my back…"

Saïx looked down at him as if trying to decide whether he should kick him or not. "That is the fate you have chosen, Devereux. If you so wish to abandon your position as a Nobody, you should let Xemnas execute you himself."

Axel sank lower toward the ground. "I would never let that bastard assassinate me, after all the years I have spent killing for his sake."

"As if you ever killed anyone—or anything—important." Saïx crossed his arms.

"That will soon change."

"What do you plan to do?" Saïx challenged. "Attack me? You have grown too weak, Axel, to do such a thing."

Axel's breath caught and he glared up at Saïx. "Well, I was not planning on attacking you, but now that you have put such ideas into my head…" He summoned his chakrams to his hands, lighting the streets with the surrounding glow from the flames. "I may well have to take you up on it."

Saïx responded by calling his own weapon, his claymore, to his grip, and stood opposite Axel with the light of the moon reflected on his face. With a jolt Axel realized that he had picked the wrong time of day to face the Luna Diviner in battle, but he couldn't back down now.

The two of them paused only a second longer before flying at each other, spinning, sidestepping, dodging, their weapons clashing and sparking in the air. Axel jumped back and prepared to throw one of his chakrams, but before he could, Saïx brought his claymore down, knocking the weapon from his hand. It spun away and ricocheted off the wall behind Saïx, skidding to a stop a few hundred feet down the alley. Saïx took advantage of Axel's distraction to pin Axel's free arm against the wall with his sword.

"Do you understand now?" Saïx hissed.

He had just gotten the last word out before Axel caught him across the chest with his other chakram, knocking him backwards. Saïx shouted in pain just before he hit the ground, drops of scarlet blood staining the road beneath him.

"You must have forgotten," Axel replied, standing over him, raising his weapons. "I am still an assassin."

"You wouldn't," Saïx hissed.

"Maybe I would."

"Did you forget?" Saïx gasped. "Ours used to be a _friendship_, Axel Devereux."

"No," Axel replied. "It was more than a friendship. Or so I thought. But you lied to me, Saïx. You cannot possibly imagine that I would ever dare to go back."

"I did not suggest that we go back." Saïx tried to push himself up from the ground, but couldn't get further than a few inches and sank back down, covering the wound in his chest with a hand. "I only suggested that you remember."

"Good," Axel told him, "because remembering only makes me more eager for vengeance."

"Axel," Saïx gasped. "No."

Those were the last words Saïx spoke before Axel brought his weapons down.

* * *

><p>He couldn't bring himself to do it.<p>

He carried Saïx back to the Organization's headquarters, where he slipped through the back doors and past Xemnas's room. He carried the unconscious blue-haired man through the dark halls and to the infirmary, where he found Organization XIII's medic-in-residence.

"Anyone home?" he called at the edge of the door. A soft light glowed from within, telling of someone else's presence.

"I am here," the answering voice murmured.

Axel pushed his way past the soft white curtain that fluttered over the door and stepped inside. "I need a little help."

The medic turned in her chair, facing Axel and Saïx. When she caught sight of Saïx's body hanging limply in Axel's arms, her eyes widened and her hands flew to cover her mouth. "What on earth happened?"

She had blue eyes and short, black hair, and she wore the same cloak that all of the other members of the Organization wore. Her voice had a soft, shy quality to it, one that, Axel knew, was calming to patients who were in a lot of pain. Which Saïx would have been at the moment, was he conscious.

"Disagreement," Axel grunted. "He is… wounded pretty badly."

"A disagreement?" the medic repeated. "Do you mean with the shadows?"

Axel shook his head. "No. The two of us had a disagreement. It did not end well."

"Oh." Their medic looked a little perplexed by this statement. "You did this to him?" Her eyes flicked up and found Axel's, wide and afraid.

Axel nodded almost imperceptibly, though he felt suddenly averse to offending her. He would have first lied to her and told her the shadows had done it, but somehow he couldn't.

"I thought you two…" the medic began.

"No," Axel interrupted. "Not anymore."

"Was the disagreement… because you ended things?" the medic asked.

Axel shook his head. "We ended things a long time ago."

"But what about—"

"Enough," Axel said. "No more questions, Xion. I did not come here to make small talk."

She glanced back down at her desk. "Lay him down," she instructed Axel without looking at him.

Axel carried Saïx across the room to the rows of white cots lined up against the wall and set him down on one. The cut on the right side of Saïx's chest still oozed blood, though not as profusely as it had when Axel had landed the blow. After a second, Xion followed him to where Saïx lay, leaning down to examine the wound.

"'Tis deep," she murmured, one of her hands hovering over his chest.

Axel wrung his hands. "I think I shall leave this job to you."

Xion whirled around. "No," she said. "I think you shall stay here and see what kind of damage you have done."

"But—"

"No." Xion pressed one finger against his lips. She then gestured with that hand to a chair across the room. "Sit," she said, adding after a moment of silence, "Please."

Axel kept his eyes on the floor as he moved across the room to the chair, but as soon as he sat down, he couldn't keep his gaze from turning to Saïx. Xion leaned over him, carefully unzipping the front of his cloak to get a good look at the wound, and in the process exposing a triangle of skin, stark against the deep red of Saïx's blood.

The silence felt heavy, as Xion made no more attempts at conversation. Axel shifted nervously in his chair, watching the Organization's medic clean and bandage the wound he had created.

"Will he make it?" he finally asked.

Xion looked up at Axel, and then down at Saïx. Her patient's chest rose and fell in a series of fast, shallow breaths, and his face had drained of color, somehow still retaining the agonized expression through his lack of consciousness.

"I do not know," she whispered. "But you did not hit any important arteries, so he has not bled out. Still, he has already lost a lot of blood, which is the reason he lost consciousness."

Axel felt his hands start to shake, and he clasped them together in front of him, determined not to let his fear and anger show. He didn't want to feel anything toward his coworker—not hatred, not regret. Not anything.

"I trust you will do all that you can, Xion," he muttered. "I need to go."

"Axel, wait," Xion called out, but Axel stood up, knocking the chair back against the wall in his haste to get to the door.

Out in the hall, he leaned against the stone wall and covered his face with his hands. He didn't want to feel, he repeated to himself. He didn't want to feel anything for Saïx, who had deceived him, nor did he want to think about Roxas, who had not, ultimately, kissed him back.

Before he turned to walk away, he half hoped that Saïx would bleed out.

* * *

><p><em>AN: So, backtracking. And Xion finally appears!_

_Hello again :3 I've had a cold or something lately. And school. I haven't gotten as much time to write (or play Kingdom Hearts *cough cough*) as I've wanted... But yeah, I'm still trying._

_Hope you're enjoying it! Reviews are always appreciated._


	12. Chapter XII

_XII_

"What do you want?" Roxas stammered.

"In light of recent events," Saïx began, "I have a request to make, Roxas Slater."

Roxas took a step back, his shoulder blades pressing against the academy wall behind him. He didn't speak.

"I forbid you," Saïx continued, "from going anywhere near Axel Devereux."

"What does that mean?" Roxas snapped. "What recent events?" His pulse started to race, and he remembered his encounter with Axel just yesterday. He just hoped that Saïx didn't know about that.

"As if you did not know," Saïx responded. "You and he have gone out on far too many errands together, and what happened at the end of that last instance was inexcusable."

Roxas thought back to what had happened yesterday, just before Axel had left him. "How do you know about that? And anyway, that was not my fault," he protested.

Saïx laughed, once, sharply. "Indeed it was not," he answered sarcastically. "Whether you realize it or not, your presence is affecting Axel's ability to do his job. Our boss, as you must know, is quite displeased with him."

"So you are saying," Roxas began incredulously, "that you have come here to benefit Axel. To save him from your boss."

"Absolutely," Saïx answered.

"Somehow I doubt that," Roxas retorted. "Maybe you think I spend too much time with Axel, but whether I do or not, I _know_ him. And I know the way you two act toward each other. Somehow I do not think you would have come here to warn me for his sake."

Saïx laughed again. "So what do you think I have come to tell you?"

"I do not know," Roxas said. "For all I know, you could have come to kill me."

The black-cloaked man fell silent, and one hand went to his chest, hovering over a place on his right side. After a moment, he said, "Think about it what you will. I forbid you from ever going to see Axel Devereux again. And if I see you together, I promise I will take any action I find necessary."

Roxas wanted to ask him why, but the combination of the facts that he probably would not receive and answer and that he was facing an assassin who was likely armed and dangerous convinced him not to speak. He clenched his fists at his sides.

"Heed this warning, Roxas Slater. This is an order."

Before Roxas could dare to step forward and ask why he should obey, or whom it was an order from, Saïx Bloodworth turned around and disappeared into the torrent of rain. Roxas swallowed hard, resisting the urge to let out his frustration in a scream, and turned around to go back inside. His short absence from the academy hadn't helped his headache at all, and he felt the pain throbbing at his temples, worse than before. He pressed the tips of his fingers to his forehead and made his way toward the infirmary.

* * *

><p>The last time Roxas had been in the infirmary, he had woken up to a blurry circle of candlelight and concerned faces staring down at him. The circumstances resonated almost too closely: the room was full of old books and medicines and candles, the paint peeled; he felt the unsettling, painful throb of his headache pounding against his skull. Last time, none of his friends had been able to stand in the room with him, since the academy's medic, Vexen, had forced them out. Roxas still could not see anyone in the immediate area.<p>

He wanted to call out, to see if anyone was around, but he couldn't find the strength to do so. Instead he sat down on the edge of one of the cots against the far wall and dropped his head into his hands.

It wasn't like Axel would ever come back to see him anyway.

Much as he hated Saïx, and didn't want to believe his words, Roxas found himself coming to the realization that the man wasn't off track. He didn't have to convince Roxas not to see Axel ever again, because Axel probably had no desire to see Roxas, and would not make the effort to do so.

_I kept my promise, did I not? And you no longer wish to associate with me or the Organization, so I guess I have finished here… Goodbye, Roxas. And thank you._

_Thank you for _what? Roxas wanted to scream at him. _All I've done is mess things up._

The side door opened, interrupting his train of thought, and Roxas looked up to see Vexen, the academy's medic, striding in.

"Oh? You have returned," he mused, stopping to close the door behind him. "I must say, I have been expecting you."

"You have?" Roxas asked.

"I have," Vexen repeated, smiling. Roxas guessed it was supposed to be reassuring, but somehow Vexen just couldn't quite pull off reassuring. "Remember? Back when you first hit your head, I reminded you to return to me in a little while."

Roxas thought back to his visit to the academy's infirmary, but somehow he just couldn't remember that bit of information. "Sorry. I guess I forgot," he replied.

"'Tis not a problem," Vexen replied, "but if you did not come here for a checkup, then why _are_ you here, Roxas Slater?"

"I… ah…" Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "I have a headache."

"Hmm." Vexen raised an eyebrow. "That is troubling. I suggest you lie down for now. I will try to find a remedy."

He disappeared through the side door again, and Roxas lay back on the cot and closed his eyes. Sleep came to him almost immediately.

* * *

><p>When he opened his eyes, he saw Sora standing over him. "Roxas? Roxas, wake up," he was saying, but no sound escaped his lips. Roxas squinted, trying to see his brother more clearly. He shifted his gaze and saw some of his other classmates standing at Sora's side—Kairi, Naminé. Kairi put her hand on Sora's arm and said something else to him. He stopped speaking, pressed his lips together, stepped back. They all looked up at someone across the room and nodded before walking out.<p>

Roxas watched them until the door closed, and his vision faded again.

* * *

><p>He jolted awake with a gasp. He was in the same room, but no one occupied it now. Had he dreamed up that whole encounter? He must have, because he had been unable to hear any of their voices.<p>

A strange dream—almost too real. Roxas shook at the thought.

Vexen emerged from the side door once again, with a glass container half full of a blue liquid in his hand. He stopped next to Roxas and handed it to him, instructing, "Drink this." When he caught a glimpse of Roxas's face, though, his eyes narrowed. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Roxas answered, nodding as he stared down into the glass of blue liquid. "I just… dreamed something very strange."

"Ah." Vexen turned and strode to the other side of the room. "Your brother was here last time you came. Does he know you are here now?"

"He probably does," Roxas said into the glass. "If he sees I am not in class, he will probably assume I came here."

"Good," Vexen answered. "Otherwise, I will send out a messenger."

"No. 'Tis all right," Roxas answered. "I can make it home on my own if he does not come."

Vexen shot him a skeptical look, but he did not speak.

Roxas turned his attention back to the glass in his hand. Mustering up his courage, he tipped it back and drank the contents. They tasted vaguely like… like… something he couldn't remember. Damn it, why was he having these memory issues right _now_? He wiped his mouth and set the glass on the table beside him.

"Wait here for a few minutes," Vexen called out. "If the effects kick in when they should, I will allow you to go back to class. If you wish to, that is."

Roxas didn't respond. He sank heavily back down onto the shapeless pillows behind him and stared at the ceiling, counting his heartbeats. After a minute, he felt the pain in his head begin to recede. He sat up slowly, but even that didn't cause it to return.

"All right," he said. Vexen looked over his shoulder at him. "I think I will go back to class."

Vexen nodded. "Good. Be careful, then."

Roxas strode across the room, pushed the door open, and left the infirmary.

* * *

><p>When classes had ended for the day, Roxas stood in the entryway of the academy, waiting for his brother. Sora showed up a few minutes late with Kairi and Naminé tailing him.<p>

"You made it," he congratulated Roxas when he approached.

"Roxas, it's good to see you back," Naminé murmured. "I noticed you were not in class earlier."

"Yeah," Roxas answered. "I had… a headache. I am fine now," he added, in an attempt to reassure her. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but remember the scene from his dream, during which these same three classmates of his had stood around him. He couldn't allow himself to mention that.

"That's good," Naminé answered.

"Sora, are we walking home together today?" Kairi piped up. "I have not been able to talk to all three of you at once since before the day Roxas fell."

_Thank you for the reminder,_ Roxas wanted to to say, but kept quiet.

"Of course," Sora answered. "And since you mentioned that, I should add that the four of us still have a standing invitation to go to dinner."

"Right!" Kairi exclaimed. "Let's go later this week. None of you are doing anything too important, I hope?"

Sora and Naminé gave murmurs of agreement, and Roxas joined them. Maybe it would keep his mind off of Axel and Saïx and what they called "recent events."

"'Tis a plan, then," Kairi answered with a smile. "See you three then."

They pulled on their coats and walked outside to brave Hollow Victoria's usual uncooperative weather. The rain still poured down outside, making the streets into rivers and creating a curtain of mist that obscured the city just a few feet in front of them. Sora hurried up to the front of the group and huddled close to Kairi, and before Roxas knew it, Naminé had moved to walk at his side.

"Roxas," she began. "How have you been? For real, I mean."

"I do not know," Roxas answered with a shrug. He pulled his cloak hood further over his face, recalling the feeling of Axel's lips colliding with his. If she—if _Sora_—knew about what had happened between him and Axel, they would never look at him the same way again. "All right. I guess you could say my head still bothers me from time to time."

"I am sorry," Naminé answered, her voice dropping to a murmur again. The rain almost drowned her out. "I hope you feel better soon, Roxas. Truly I do."

She quickened her pace just slightly, so that she walked between him and Sora. Roxas tucked his arms close to his torso. He felt as though he needed to keep them there just in case he fell apart.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Inception! Just kidding._

_Wow, this shouldn't be news, but... Omg I LOVE this Kingdom Hearts 2.5 stuff. I seriously wish there were more than 24 hours in a day so I'd have more time for it.  
><em>

_Anyway, thank you all for following and reviewing. I'll be back soon. (MyHamstersHateMe - Just wait, I'm getting there ;3)_


	13. Chapter XIII

_XIII_

"Are you one hundred percent sure about this?"

"Absolutely, Larxene."

Marluxia pushed her away gently, his hands resting on her shoulders. She shot him a hurt look in response.

"At least take me with you," she protested.

"No," Marluxia answered. "I cannot risk losing you to the task at hand."

"But if I came along," Larxene said, "there would be two of us against Xemnas, instead of just one. He would never see it coming."

"Assassins are supposed to work alone," Marluxia reminded her. "Do not misinterpret my words, Larxene—I would bring you along if I could. I only fear that I cannot risk it."

"Marluxia," she whined.

"Forgive me, Larxene." He cast a devious smile in her direction. "And if I do not return, Axel is all yours."

"Forget Axel!" Larxene snapped. "You saw the way he acted toward that other one who was with him when he came here. 'Tis no wonder he refused me."

"'Twas a joke," Marluxia responded. "What I mean, Larxene, is that if I do not return by dawn, you should not wait for me. I mean to be finished with my work by then, and if I am not, it is likely that Xemnas has turned the deed upon me."

Larxene frowned, but didn't say anything more. She crossed her arms over her chest, her face contorting into a scowl, and watched him as he turned away.

He opened the front door and, as his black cloak blended in with the darkness beyond, disappeared.

* * *

><p>Marluxia crept along the roofs adjacent to the Organization's headquarters, which were slippery with rain. He had been here many times with other members, he reflected, most of whom had been vaporized within the last few months. Lexaeus and Zexion had most definitely met with untimely fates; he'd found them murdered by the same people they had intended to kill while on the job. Demyx had brought his fate on himself by walking too many stories above the ground. Xaldin had long since vanished without a trace, most likely choosing desertion as Marluxia and Larxene had. He had only heard Vexen's name spoken among them—he had never seen the man. And hadn't they brought a new member in just before he'd left? He couldn't remember her name. Xigbar, Saïx, and Luxord were probably still around, Marluxia guessed, along with Xemnas and Axel.<p>

Hopefully he would only run into their Master tonight.

He slid to the edge of the roof he was on and eyed the jump to the roof of the Organization's building. A small, square window stuck out right across from him, with a ledge underneath it. He recognized the window: it led to one of the upstairs storage rooms where shadows sometimes appeared. In one swift motion he leaped across the gap and punched through the glass, summoning his scythe to his hand to prepare to deal with any shadows that might show up and get in his way. None appeared.

After a second's hesitation, he crossed the room and exited through the door against the far wall, emerging into a dark hallway. From there he descended a flight of stairs to the building's second level. Somewhere close to here, he remembered, were Xemnas's quarters. As he moved through one of the halls, he followed the doors as they counted down in number, beginning at twelve. Marluxia happened to know that the occupant of that room no longer boarded here.

At door number one Marluxia paused, raising his scythe. In one swift motion he brought his weapon down, making a vertical slash through the door and kicking the pieces away. He rushed into the room, scanning from one wall to the other and finding Xemnas standing at one of the far windows, his back turned. He didn't move.

"Marluxia," he said. "I see you have returned. Are you here to beg for readmission into the Organization?"

"Beg," Marluxia echoed with a laugh. "That is humorous. I want nothing to do with the Organization."

"You do realize," Xemnas continued, "that you can never erase that scar from your back, do you not? Once a member of the Organization, always a member of the Organization."

"What if the Organization ceases to exist?" Marluxia asked. "Then what happens?"

"Why would you ask such a question?" Xemnas replied. "You still have the mark of the Nobodies."

He raised his hand, a small orb of light collecting in his palm. Marluxia took a step back and raised his scythe, preparing to counter.

"By coming here, Marluxia," Xemnas informed him, "you are still attempting to do your duty as an assassin. I hope you realize the irony of that."

Marluxia leaped from his place near the doorway and flew at Xemnas, who summoned a glowing red sword to his hand. The two of them paused, weapons locked, staring at each other.

"A little bird told me you had decided to ally yourself with the shadows," Marluxia growled.

Xemnas shook his head. "If his name was Axel, his wings should have been clipped long ago."

"Oh, is that how it is?" Marluxia asked, a smirk appearing on his lips. "Why do you not just perform that deed yourself?"

"For what reason would you even begin to believe that any of that information should be available to you?" Xemnas replied. He disengaged, jumped back. Marluxia copied.

"I do not know, exactly," Marluxia replied. "Maybe because I once worked on the same side as both of you."

"And you think this is still valid, after you have so obviously left the Organization?" Xemnas replied.

"Does it matter?"

The blades of their weapons shrieked as they collided again, the steel and light sparking in the darkness at irregular intervals. Marluxia's scythe grazed a stack of boxes in the corner of the room, and they all but exploded, spraying their contents into the air. Neither Xemnas nor Marluxia noticed.

Marluxia disengaged, took a step backward, and tripped over the edge of one of the boxes, his foot coming down on the wood with a splintering sound. Instinctively, he looked over his shoulder for just a heartbeat, and in turn gave Xemnas the split second he needed.

The blade of Xemnas's sword went straight through flesh, stopping only when it hit the stone wall behind Marluxia.

Marluxia couldn't find the strength to scream. Instead he froze, pinned against the wall by the blade of Xemnas's single sword, mouth opening and closing, never quite forming words. He dropped his scythe, and it hit the floor, bouncing once, spinning in midair, disappearing in a flash of rose petals. His hands, shaking, closed around the hilt of Xemnas's sword in an attempt to pull the blade free of his chest. It didn't budge.

Finally Xemnas pulled the sword free, spilling Marluxia's blood, scattering it against the walls and the floor and the remains of the crates he had broken open during the fight. Marluxia slid to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Do you have any last words?" Xemnas asked.

"Axel… sent me…" Marluxia stammered out before his eyes closed and his head fell to one side.

Xemnas turned and walked away.

* * *

><p>He found himself standing at the top of Hollow Victoria's clock tower, staring out at the city through the haze of rain that coated it. Every spike that was a roof, every moving spot in the streets caught his eye and he allowed his gaze to sweep slowly over the horizon.<p>

"All of this will soon belong to me and to the shadows," he said, quietly enough to have been talking to himself, but he knew that he had truly meant to address it to the entire city of Hollow Victoria and his citizens.

But they didn't need such a warning, did they?

A cold wind cut across the sky, disturbing the shadow that was Xemnas's cloak and pushing it into flight behind his back where he stood. He took no notice, moving the toe of his black boot closer to the edge where the wall dropped away into nothing. He let a small smirk cross his lips as he looked down into that void. It would not be him who fell into the void. It would be the rest of the Organization… the rest of Hollow Victoria.

He spun on his heel, returning to the face of the clock. A few strides to his left, another wall stood perpendicular to that wall, along with a door hidden in the stone. He put the flat of his hand against it and pushed, and once the door had opened wide enough for him to step through, he did just that, disappearing into the darkness of the clock tower.

Xemnas flipped a switch just to his left with a gloved hand that blended in with the darkness. In response to the trip of the switch, a line of candles flickered to life along the perimeter of the walls, and in the dim light he stood staring at a huge array of mechanical devices, each one turning in time to a very audible and metronomic beat. It belonged to the clock outside, though on the outside, the sounds of the city and the wind usually drowned out the ticking completely. The city of Hollow Victoria depended very heavily on their clock tower, Xemnas knew. To extinguish it would be to snuff out the candle at the center of the city's existence.

He knew exactly what he had to do.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Oh, spoiler alert. I caused a character death. Wait..._

_I have a friend who says "'Twas a joke" all the time. Lol._

_Anyway, I kind of forgot to update for a while because... finals. So there's that. Sorry! I'm still here I promise._

_Until then, see you on the flip side x3_


	14. Chapter XIV

_XIV_

Axel returned to the Organization's infirmary the next morning, at first hoping to find Saïx. When he pushed open the door, however, he found all of the room's white cots empty and only Xion sitting at a desk near the window, her head bowed in sleep over some ancient book. He approached her and shook her shoulder gently.

"Xion?" he said. "Wake up, Xion."

She opened one eye and looked up at him. Recognition flashed on her face and she sat up, smoothing her hair. "Oh. Axel. Sorry, I was…"

"Sleeping?" Axel finished for her. "Clearly. Where is Saïx?"

Xion looked around the room, confusion clouding her eyes. "Saïx…" she breathed. Rising from her chair, she strode across the room and knelt at the edge of the first cot. One of her hands gripped the metal frame. "Where did he go?"

"You did not see him leave?" Axel questioned, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

"How _could_ he leave?" Xion responded. "He was so badly injured… He was unconscious."

Axel didn't say anything.

Xion dropped her head so that her forehead touched the metal frame of the cot. "Why does he even keep me here anymore…? I am no better than a prisoner."

"Why would you say that?" Axel asked, shaking his head. "You are the Organization's medic. We need you."

"No, you do not," Xion whispered. "Saïx is the first patient I have treated in months, and you brought him in to me, not our Superior. And he… has not let me leave this room."

Axel looked at her in concern. "Never?"

"Not in the last several months," she told him. "Has it been months? I do not even know."

Silence gripped the room. In the end, Axel broke that silence, stating, "I will let you go."

"What do you mean?" Xion raised her head and stared at him, her eyes wide with fear and hope.

"Just what I said," Axel told her, one hand gesturing limply to the door.

"But you… you are not him," Xion said. Her voice seemed to shrink with each word.

"I know," Axel answered. He took a few steps backward, his hand closing around the door handle and twisting it, holding the door open just enough for Xion to slip out. He nodded toward it.

Xion stood up and faced him. "I owe you, Axel," she said.

"Yeah," he said, glancing away. "Next time I need a medic, you will be there, correct?"

A fraction of a smile crossed her face. "I will be there."

She crossed the room and slipped out through the door. As soon as she had disappeared, Axel closed the door again, leaning back against it with a sigh. "What the hell am I doing?" he murmured to himself. But even as he said it, he remembered Marluxia's promise to do the job Axel had asked of him. Soon enough, the Organization's leader would vanish, and then Xion and the others who still lived under his foot would have to be freed anyway. What was the harm?

"Speaking of that," Axel muttered to himself, "I wonder why I haven't heard from Marluxia lately…"

* * *

><p>In the rainy streets of Hollow Victoria, Axel drew his hood over his face, concealing most of it from view and letting the shadows do the rest. He hoped that even if he ran into Roxas in this crowd, the other boy wouldn't recognize him.<p>

He almost had a heart attack when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind.

"Axel! _Axel Devereux! _What happened to Marluxia?" Before he could say a word, Larxene was in front of him, screaming at him and shaking his shoulders, right in the middle of the street. At least a dozen heads turned in their direction. Axel tried to quiet her, but she wouldn't stop talking. "He told me he would come back last night and he never did! Where is he, Axel? _Where is he?_"

"I—I don't know—Calm down, Larxene—" Axel stammered.

Through his stunned confusion, he came to an unwanted realization: had Marluxia gone out on his mission to assassinate Xemnas last night?

His breath stalled.

Larxene sounded completely incoherent now; she clung to the front of Axel's cloak, still screaming. He pulled her up from the ground and dragged her off to the side of the street. Her screeching made a decrescendo until it dissolved into whispers. Thankfully, the passersby had stopped staring at the two of them so openly, but Axel still felt a little off standing in the middle of all those people.

"Larxene," he tried again. "What is going on? Are you all right?"

"No!" she responded so sharply that he took a step back. "I-I mean… Marluxia promised me he would come back last night, and he never did… That is, he told me if he did not come back by dawn, it would be because he was…" She trailed off.

Axel knelt down beside her and lowered his voice. "Did he leave to try to assassinate Xemnas?" he asked.

Larxene nodded.

"There is only one way to find out, then," Axel concluded under his breath. "I will just have to find Xemnas."

"What? But if you leave, I will be here alone! What if he comes after me next?" Larxene wailed. "Do not leave, Axel! Stay here!"

Axel frowned. "Larxene, you forget. You and I are not friends. Go home," he told her. "Xemnas is not 'coming after' anyone. If he killed Marluxia, it was only because Marluxia attacked him."

Larxene leveled her gaze at him, her eyes like daggers. "Fine."

Before Axel could say anything else, she had jumped to her feet again and dashed off into the streets of Hollow Victoria.

* * *

><p>Axel didn't want to go back to the Organization's headquarters. After all, if Xemnas had returned there and found that Xion had vanished, who did he have left to blame?<p>

He reflected on his first days in the Organization, when all of the members had still worked there, and when he had not suspected Xemnas of ulterior motives. They had used to go out in search of shadows to kill, not people. They had used to keep the shadows away from the city gates and from the mansions in other districts of the city and from the clock tower in the center. They had never used to go after people. Nor had they turned against each other like this, forming loyalties with people they shouldn't have known.

The Organization had begun to fall apart before his eyes.

But he couldn't even pin the blame only on Xemnas, though their Superior's absence and ambiguity was the most obvious. Axel himself had done his share of creating forbidden alliances—with Roxas most of all.

_Roxas. _Why did he have to bring that cursed name back at these ill-timed moments? Every time the blond's name entered his head, he was brought back to the last time he had seen him, that time in the alley, when—

He shook his head, freeing his thoughts from the chains of the memory. Ahead of him stood the white, strangely-shaped building that housed the Organization's headquarters. He couldn't afford to let thoughts of Roxas cloud his judgment right now.

He stepped into the building through the side door. As usual, the building's inner halls were cloaked in darkness. He was used to it, though he could hardly see.

He walked through the main hall and went up the stairs. At the top of those stairs he emerged into another hall and felt his way along the pattern of doors until he reached the very last one. Before he opened the door, he reached out in the darkness for the number I he knew should have been nailed to the wood there. But as he reached out, he found instead that there no longer was a door at the end of the hall; it had been destroyed, its remains scattered into the room. He pushed past the pieces and walked into the room.

His movements kicked up a cloud of dust, and Axel coughed, waving it away from his face. He wondered if maybe he was wrong, if this room hadn't been used in years. Nevertheless, he moved further into the darkness.

He could just make out the shapes of dark furniture and a window on the far wall, covered by black curtains. As he stepped carefully toward the window, he felt his boot catch on something lying just to his right.

He turned to face it and gasped, stumbling backward and tripping over an overturned couch on the opposite side of the room. He landed on his back, his legs still draped over the couch, the dust swirling around and choking him.

Staring at the ceiling, he tried to forget what he had just seen. He now wished that he had been wrong, that no one had been here for years. But no. He had, without a doubt, seen that telltale flash of pink hair.

Marluxia was here.

Not seconds later, he heard footsteps outside in the hall. He didn't have time to delude himself into thinking maybe it was Xigbar or Xaldin from the next room over—he hadn't seen them in ages. He scrambled up from the floor and made a beeline for the window. Without hesitation, he peeled aside the curtain and summoned one of his chakrams to his hands, slamming it through the window and breaking the glass. He slid out feet-first and hit the edge of the roof below, first, before slipping off it and colliding with the wet ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him, and he rolled onto his back, gasping again.

"Axel! Are you all right?" a voice exclaimed.

Axel eased one eye open to see the blurry image of a face staring down at him. As he squinted, that face developed a pair of blue eyes and a frame of blond hair.

"_Roxas?_" Axel exclaimed, sitting up straight. Just the movement, sudden as it was, gave him a headache.

"Axel," his voice breathed. Axel wanted to drift into the sound of Roxas's voice and hide there forever. "What are you doing? I thought you said running on roofs was safe."

"I was not running on them," Axel contradicted. He cast a glance at the shattered window two stories above them and got to his feet. Grabbing Roxas's wrist, he broke into a run. "We are getting out of here. Hold on."

Roxas barely kept up with him as he tore through the streets, finally arriving in the square outside the academy. There, they could see the clock tower, and rain poured down into the fountain in the center. People in cloaks hurried in every which direction.

"I am late for class," Roxas admitted. "My brother and his friends left ahead of me."

"I apologize for keeping you," Axel replied. "Never mind this. I should not have taken you with me. I should go."

Roxas stared off into the distance while Axel spoke, but when he had finished, he locked eyes with the redhead. "No, Axel. Explain to me what you were doing. I want to know what happened."

"'Tis a long story," Axel sighed. He shook one of his hands, revealing tears across the palm and scrapes that oozed crimson blood. Roxas grabbed that hand and plunged it into the fountain behind them, creating a cloud of blood in the water. "What are you doing?" Axel exclaimed, pulling his hand away.

"Your hand," Roxas explained. "The wound. It needed cleaning."

"Roxas," Axel sighed again. "I do not understand you."

"Likewise," Roxas said, face expressionless.

* * *

><p><em>AN: So um... um... Marluxia vanished in Chain of Memories anyway, so that hasn't changed..._

_Anyway... I had postponed my updates for a while so I could work on All I Want and some other stories I have yet to post. Oh, and play Kingdom Hearts II. (When Axel disappears though... The feels...)_

_Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favorited in the past week or so ;3 Hope you're enjoying it._


	15. Chapter XV

_XV_

"So I was looking for Master Xemnas," Axel began.

Roxas couldn't help but notice that he had more rips in his cloak, besides the ones on his glove. He couldn't tell from here whether they were due to other injuries. But Axel was shivering, and, he admitted, so was he. They needed to get somewhere warm before they both caught cold out here in this rain.

"Hold on," Roxas said, interrupting him. "Is there anywhere else where we could stay? 'Tis a little cold to be sitting out here."

"You are right," Axel agreed. "I know one place." He stood up, pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders, and started off into the square again.

When the two of them stopped walking, they stood in front of an old, dilapidated apartment building. Lights shone in a few of the windows, but the place looked mostly deserted. Roxas looked up and estimated how many stories up he would be if he stood on the roof of that building rather than on the ground below it.

"Where are we?" Roxas asked.

"I used to live in this building," Axel responded. "Of course, I now live in the Organization's building, but I fear that will not last long."

"What do you mean?"

Axel walked ahead of him, one hand landing on the handle of the front door before he turned to face Roxas again. "I will explain inside," he said.

They walked up seven flights of dark, rickety stairs that seemed like they wouldn't hold up under even Roxas's steps. At the top of those stairs was a long hallway lined by doors. Axel led Roxas to the very last one, opened it, and stepped inside.

The room beyond looked lived in, like someone had been there not so long ago. There was a fine layer of dust on everything, but other than that, it was a direct contrast to the rest of the building, which appeared to be falling apart.

"The landlord does not really run the place anymore," Axel explained, lighting a candle. "I have been coming up here for a while, keeping this room looking decent."

"Do other people live here, too?" Roxas asked.

"They do," Axel said, "but not nearly as many as used to."

"And they do not have to pay any rent?" Roxas continued.

Axel shook his head and laughed. "No rent, but there is no guaranteed heat or accessibility, either."

"As long as you have somewhere to go."

Axel slumped down onto the couch in the main area of the room. There was a fireplace across from it, logs discarded there, all of them charred and none burning. The only light in the room came from Axel's singular candle, burning alone on the end table next to him.

"Come here, Roxas," Axel said, gesturing to the space next to him.

Roxas hesitated, but the chill of the night and, even worse, the lingering dampness caused by the rain made him reconsider. He crossed the room and sat down beside Axel in the half-darkness, their shoulders touching.

"So about the Organization," Axel began. "As I was saying, I went looking for Xemnas, but instead I found the body of one of my coworkers. I thought he had come after me, so I… I jumped out a window." He sucked in a breath. "Why were you walking by the Organization's headquarters, anyway, if you had to get to class?"

Roxas shrugged. Axel felt the motion of the blond's shoulder against his own. "I do not know. I just… ended up there."

Axel shook his head and turned his gaze toward the window, muttering something that sounded like, "What are the odds?"

Roxas gasped and abandoned his seat, standing to face Axel. "That is right. Your wounds," he said. "You need bandages."

"No, Roxas. I am fine," Axel protested.

"I will find some for you," Roxas insisted. He turned the corner, feeling his way around the walls until he reached the bathroom. There, he dug through cabinets, squinting in the darkness to see if he could make out the shapes of the medical supplies there. After a while he managed to find something that had the same vague shape as the bandages he was looking for. He crossed the bathroom floor to find an old tub standing in the corner.

"Axel, in here," he said.

He heard Axel's footsteps slowly make their way across the apartment. The candle appeared in the doorway and granted the bathroom a little light, along with quite a few flickering shadows. "Roxas, I forgot to tell you," he said. "There is no running water."

Roxas's face fell. "What do I do then?" he asked.

"I will take care of it," Axel told him.

"No." Roxas shook his head. "I need to repay you, Axel. For messing everything up."

Axel laughed. "Roxas," he answered, "why in the hell would you have messed anything at all up for me? I create my own problems. I thought you knew that."

"Yes, but I…" Roxas trailed off, biting his lip. Axel reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"No need, all right? I will live."

Roxas shook his head again and reached for the bandages. This time, Axel complied. He peeled off his gloves and cloak and stood in the scarce light of the candle, the shadows dancing over the smooth muscles of his torso and arms.

Sure enough, the edges of broken glass in the window had torn through the material of Axel's cloak and his skin. The blood around the cuts had mostly dried, the lack of light in the room making it look black. Roxas sucked in a breath at the sight of them. Hesitating only a moment, he uttered a "Hold on" before dashing out of the bathroom.

He stopped in the room where the two of them had just sat, pushing aside the curtains and opening the window. He stuck his hand outside and held a few of the bandages in the rain. Thanks to the intensity of Hollow Victoria's bad weather, the rain soaked them through in only a few seconds.

Roxas ran back to the bathroom where Axel stood and deposited the soaking bandages on the counter. He peeled one away from the rest and began scrubbing at the dried blood around the wounds. Axel winced.

"Don't tell me you used rainwater for that."

Roxas looked up and met his eyes, a small smile creeping across his face. "I did what I had to."

When he was done, he wound the clean bandages around the wounds. He felt the warmth of Axel's skin, the ridges of the scars on his back, as he worked. He could feel a strange electricity beginning in his hands—and he began to fear they would betray him and touch more than they should.

"What…" he began, unsure if he should continue. One look from Axel told him that he had to finish what he started. "What made you decide to join the Organization? What would make you want to inflict this kind of pain on yourself?" he added, tracing his fingers along Axel's elaborate scars.

"Desperation," Axel murmured. "And…" He trailed off.

"And what?"

Axel sighed and looked at the floor. "And someone I thought I cared about was there."

"What does that mean?" Roxas let his hands drop away from the bandages.

"Someone I was close to had been with them for a few months. He convinced me to join." Axel shrugged. "I regret it now. I believe… I believe the Organization is falling apart at the seams. Most of its members are dead, some of them have deserted, and our leader no longer believes what he did when I joined. But you did not hear that from me."

"Um… okay," Roxas answered.

"Roxas," Axel sighed. "I do not think _you _were the one who needed to repay _me_."

Before Roxas could form an adequate response, Axel took a step forward, closing the distance between them, and kissed him. Roxas was surprised at the contact at first, but within a moment he realized that he was kissing the redhead back, leaning into the contact like it was nothing.

Some distant part of him _wanted _this.

Axel pulled away, taking in a breath, and stumbled against the opposite wall, his scarred shoulder blades leaning against it like he depended on it as his only support. A smirk pulled at the edge of his mouth, which, Roxas suddenly noticed, was entirely distracting.

"Does that make up for the first one, Roxas?" Axel asked.

Roxas couldn't stop himself. He moved toward Axel again, grasping his shoulders and pulling him down into another kiss.

It wasn't until this had happened one more time that Saïx's warning reentered his head.

"Oh, God." Roxas stumbled back against the counter, pressing his hand gingerly to his lips. "Axel. I am sorry. I should not be here."

"Wait. Hold on. Roxas," Axel began, his tone rising, gathering hysteria. "Come back. It is all right." He grabbed his cloak and threw it over his shoulders as he followed Roxas out of the bathroom.

"No. It is not." Roxas felt his cheeks warming and his eyes burning. He hated the sensation. He narrowly avoided running into a wall as he raced for the door. The close glow of the candle in Axel's hand followed him, throwing strange shadows onto the surfaces around him. Roxas's heart pounded against his rib cage, and he shoved his way out the door, making it all the way down the stairs and out into the rainy streets before he realized Axel was still close behind.

"Roxas!" his voice shouted.

A second later, Roxas felt a hand close around his wrist, squeezing hard enough to cut off the circulation in his fingers. He paused just in front of the door, almost an arm's length away.

"Axel, let go," Roxas whispered.

"Why are you always running from me?" Axel asked, and when Roxas turned his head to look at him, he could see the raw, obvious pain reflected in his eyes. He acknowledged that he truly did not want to hurt Axel; he just refused to allow himself to go against the expectations that Saïx had set for him.

"Because," Roxas whimpered, attempting to pull his wrist from Axel's grasp. Axel didn't let go. "Because Saïx told me to."

"What?!" Axel exclaimed. Roxas tried to pull away again. "Roxas, what do you mean, Saïx told you to? Please, tell me you are making that up. Please tell me you are lying."

"I am not lying," Roxas said. "Saïx tracked me down not so long ago and told me that I am not to be with you. He told me it was an order that I had to follow—otherwise he would do something about it."

"Roxas, forget that," Axel insisted. "Forget Saïx. He does not matter." He pulled the blond toward him, brushing his lips against Roxas's again.

"Say that again, Axel Devereux."

Axel broke the kiss with a gasp and looked up. Roxas followed his gaze to where a cloaked figure stood just a few meters away in the rain. He felt Axel's body go rigid against his.

"Saïx."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Ahhh, I'm sorry I didn't update this for so long... But I got distracted by other games that weren't Kingdom Hearts._

_I don't know if it's just me, but Birth by Sleep frustrates me to no end. It's sooooo hard. I'm gonna go back to 358/2 Days._

_Thank you AngelHeartFire and MyHamstersHateMe for your reviews! I appreciate them :3 Also I need some encouragement so I don't forget to update again... :P_


	16. Chapter XVI

_XVI_

"Well," Saïx said. "What did you expect?"

"I do not know," Axel began, sarcasm tainting his voice, "maybe that you would actually stay out of my business for once."

Saïx laughed, the sound emerging short and bitter. "Like I have said before, Axel, your business is my business. We work in the Organization together, after all."

"If you have not noticed," Axel shot back, "the Organization is falling apart. And I do not give a _damn_ about them anyway."

"Perhaps that is due to people such as you who cannot follow orders," Saïx spat. "Look at you. Standing here in the middle of the street with the one person from whom I warned you to stay away."

"Warned _me_?" Axel laughed. "From what I hear, you warned Roxas. Not me."

Saïx's eyes narrowed.

"And what in the hell do you think you are doing out here, anyway?" Axel continued. "I nearly killed you during that fight days ago. You should have stayed in the infirmary. And yet—here you are, following us around. How did you manage not to lose too much blood?"

"I do not have an explanation for that," Saïx said through his teeth. "Only that you wounded me inadequately enough not to kill me."

"I challenge you to repeat what you just said."

"Which brings me back to what I was telling you earlier," Saïx began with a toss of his head.

Immediately following his gesture, all of the gas lamps around them were suddenly extinguished, all at once.

The complete darkness prompted screams from pedestrians around them. Axel took the opportunity to grab Roxas's arm and run.

"What is going on?" Roxas cried in his attempt to keep up with Axel. The redhead didn't respond; instead, he put his arms around Roxas's waist again and threw his unsuspecting body over his shoulder. Roxas exclaimed in protest, but in the end could not do anything but flail his arms and kick his legs.

Axel deposited Roxas in an alley far away from the chaos of the streets, where all was dark and quiet. Roxas slumped down against one wall while Axel climbed a fire escape and got a good look at the clock tower.

"There are some downright strange lights floating around up there…," he murmured.

Roxas hauled himself up from his position on the ground and climbed the stairs to the upper levels of the fire escape after Axel. At the top, they could see just over the roof of the adjacent building to the clock tower, which had gone dark. A circle of orbs of light floated around the exterior, bobbing up and down as they moved. Other than that and the light of the moon above them, the darkness was absolute. It fell around Hollow Victoria like a curtain.

"Why?" Roxas whispered, his voice hoarse, scraping through his throat.

Axel closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It must be… It has to be… But it cannot be—Xemnas."

Roxas sank to the ground. "I cannot do this."

Axel followed him, gathering the shorter boy's body into his arms. "I promise, Roxas," he said. "I promise that no matter what happens, I will protect you."

Roxas couldn't speak. He curled his hands against Axel's cloak, burying his head in his chest.

"Devereux!" a voice called, breaking the silence. "Axel Devereux! I know that you are there. Do not try to hide from me."

Axel drew in a deep and shuddering breath. At first, Roxas thought that he would not dare speak and give away their hiding spot on the fire escape, but instead he heard the rush of breath as the redhead shouted, "Saïx, you can't see in the dark."

"Perhaps not, but I can hear your voice just fine."

A flare lit up the area around Axel, and Roxas realized that it came from his weapons, which burned a steady, glowing fire all around them. Slowly he swung his leg over the fire escape and prepared to jump down.

"Axel, you are not actually going to fight him now," Roxas said. His voice came out half hoping and half pleading.

"But what better time to do it than now?" Axel cast a smirk over his shoulder before he leaped from the edge of the scaffolding.

Roxas could see the glint of Saïx's sword below him, opposite the glow of Axel's weapons. He cowered against the fire escape's railing, hoping the lights would come back on.

"Axel, did you forget," Saïx began, taking a few strides forward, "that night is a bad time to try to fight me?"

"If I remember correctly, our last fight was also at a bad time," Axel countered. "And it ended with you in the Organization's infirmary, trying not to bleed to death."

Saïx glared at him. "Shut up," he snarled. "That means this time, it is your turn."

The two of them flew at each other, weapons flashing. Just before they collided, an explosion echoed through the area, the blast knocking both of them off their feet and shaking the fire escape on which Roxas perched. Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and clamped his hands down on the railing, but in the end he couldn't stop from watching Saïx and Axel, couldn't stop from trying to make sure Axel was all right.

"Xemnas!" Axel screamed, rising to his feet. "Look what you have done!" He rounded on Saïx, the flames from his weapons flashing in his eyes. "And you! You eternally loyal bastard!"

"At least I did not defect, like you did," Saïx responded, his voice a deadly whisper. "At least I can say I stayed to finish what I started."

"You _fool_!" Axel screamed. "Have you not seen what Xemnas is capable of? What he knows now? What he is willing to do? He is an entirely different person—a murderer, a monster, a madman."

"What are you talking about?" Saïx lifted his sword and drew himself up to his full height again.

"He _killed _Marluxia." Axel shook his head. "One of his own. And I would not put killing the rest of us past him."

"Did you forget that both you and Marluxia deserted the Organization?" Saïx demanded. "To say that Marluxia was one of his own is a ridiculous suggestion."

"The Organization was created to defeat the shadows that converged nightly upon Hollow Victoria," Axel informed him. "The reason the rest of us defected is because we saw this coming. The old Xemnas, the one we knew when we joined—he would never have consented to killing _people_, least of all those who followed him. And this—"

Another explosion cut the air and caused the very ground to vibrate. Roxas drew his hands away from the railing to cover his ears.

"This," Axel continued, "would have been unthinkable."

Roxas didn't understand. He had never walked by the Organization's headquarters before now; he had never heard anything of shadows that descended on the city at night. Had he really been so blind? Or had they appeared on their own, not so long ago?

Saïx shot forward, swinging his sword over his head, and Axel brought his weapons up to block. As he attempted to fight off Saïx's attacks, he looked up and shouted to Roxas.

"Roxas!" he said. "Run!"

Roxas stayed put on the fire escape, his very legs shaking at the idea of trying to leave here without Axel. But he heard another explosion hit the buildings behind him, and he sprang up without a second thought, dashing down the stairs.

Below, in the alley, Saïx and Axel still fought, the clashes of their weapons sparking and lighting up the darkness that surrounded them between the explosions. Roxas hesitated only a second before making his decision. He lurched forward, grabbed Axel's arm, and pulled him away from the fight.

Everything happened at once.

Axel's voice shouted, "Roxas? Roxas, no!"

Saïx's sword made another arc in the air and, unblocked by Axel's weapons, hit its mark between Axel's ribs.

Seconds later, an explosion split the alley, cutting Saïx off from Axel and throwing Roxas off his feet. Roxas landed on his back on the gravel several hundred feet away, his shoulders scraping debris and his mouth filling with blood. He coughed, spat, sat up, and looked around, but all he could see was haze and darkness. Panicking, he glanced around and shouted for Axel.

"Roxas?" came the reply, with a voice choked and faltering.

"Where are you?" Roxas called out, flinching as another explosion hit the buildings somewhere nearby.

"I am here…"

Roxas crawled across the debris of the buildings around them, half wondering if Axel's apartment was still intact or if it lay in fragments in the alleys with the others. Within a few seconds, his hands found the sleeve of a black coat, slick with blood. His eyes, in turn, found Axel's pallid expression staring back at him.

"Roxas, why—?" Axel murmured.

Roxas shook his head, unable to speak. His hand clenched around the tear in Axel's cloak where Saïx's weapon had bitten through it. The blood had sprayed in all directions, marking several different sections of his cloak with even darker patches. Roxas knew that had he not jumped into the fight, Axel might have made it out unscathed.

"I am… so sorry," he whispered into Axel's coat. "I told you I should not have gotten involved. I should have stayed away, like Saïx told me to."

"What are you…?" Axel began, trailing off when he saw the tears trailing down the blond's face. "Roxas! What did I tell you? I would never blame you for any of this, I swear."

Roxas sniffed. Axel leaned forward, one of his hands reaching out to trace Roxas's jaw, and kissed him. Roxas succumbed for only a second before tearing away in protest.

"What—what are you doing?!" he exclaimed. "You're bleeding to death, Axel, and you try to kiss me? What is wrong with you?"

Rather than argue, Axel burst into laughter. Roxas's face collapsed into an expression of hopelessness again. Almost instantly, Axel stopped laughing and reached for Roxas's hand. "Roxas, separating is what Saïx _wants _us to do. If you leave me, you are only obeying his orders. Is that what you want?"

"N—not really." Roxas wiped his eyes.

"Me neither." Axel heaved himself to his feet. "Come on, let's go find Xion."

"Xion?" Roxas repeated, looking thoroughly confused.

"Yes," Axel answered. "She said she would be there if I ever needed a medic, and let me just say, I sure as hell need a medic now." At the end of the sentence he coughed into his sleeve, attempting to hide the sound, but Roxas heard it anyway.

"Axel, how are you going to make it?" he wondered aloud, a note of desperation in his voice. "What if you pass out before you get there? What if—"

Axel pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him. "Let's go," he said again, and, taking Roxas's hand, pulled him out of the alley and into the main road.

Explosions coming from God only knows where had made craters in the streets and littered every surface imaginable with fallen debris from buildings, making the roads nearly impossible to navigate. Axel and Roxas flitted among the wreckage, two shadows finding their way among the light from the fires. Though Roxas could not tell where each road ended and gave way to another, Axel seemed to know where he was going. He pointed out the Organization's headquarters among the silhouettes of two buildings, somehow still intact though the buildings around it lay in shambles.

"There," he said, taking hold of Roxas's hand again and starting for it.

They pushed open the nearest door, which happened to be the back one and hung loosely on its hinges, as though one of the explosions had broken them. The torches mounted on the walls and in the hallways had all gone out. This left the building in complete darkness, shadows on shadows on shadows, shades of black overlapping and causing phantom shapes to materialize before Roxas's eyes.

Axel led them to a room lined with several beds and a desk and glanced around it as if looking for something. Roxas glanced at him, his gaze a question.

"She is not here," Axel answered in a strange, breathy voice.

Not a second later, his knees buckled, and he fell to the floor.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Wow, I felt like I took a really long break from this story, but all of a sudden one day I woke up and thought, "Hey! I need to work on 'Don't Cry for Me'!" So that's what I've been doing... _

_Everyone should listen to the Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections, by the way, because they're amazing and that's what I'm listening to right now. x3_

_Thanks to those who reviewed and followed! I appreciate it! :D_

_And also, since I haven't done it in a while, routine disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Lol._


	17. Chapter XVII

_XVII_

"Axel, wake up!" Roxas exclaimed, shaking the redhead's shoulder as though he had merely fallen asleep. "Axel, _who _is not here? What do you mean?"

He couldn't stop himself. Again, his eyes filled with tears, and he dragged his sleeve across his face in an attempt to dry them. Just hours ago, he had cleaned and bandaged older, less significant wounds, and yet here he was, faced with another one that had the potential to be much, much worse. He peeled away the jagged edges of material that surrounded the cut between Axel's ribs and squinted at it. The wound was deep, for sure, and he could see no sign that it had begun to heal. In fact, the areas around the wound looked flushed and swollen, and though Roxas was no medic, he could tell that was never a sign of good things to come.

He sat back on his heels, thinking. _She is not here,_ Axel had said. _She is not here—_had he been speaking of Xion, the girl he had mentioned before they had set off for the Organization's headquarters? The one he had said would be there if they ever needed a medic? But how would she know whether he needed a medic, if she was not here?

Roxas buried his head in his hands. If he did not do something, Axel might not survive to open his eyes again. And yet, outside this very room, Hollow Victoria was being destroyed. The city he had lived in all his life was withering before his very eyes, and he was indoors worrying over an assassin he hadn't even known for that long. One whom he already considered more than a friend.

Desperate, he jumped up and ran to the desk near the room's single window. He pulled open every drawer he could find, tossing out medical supplies—bandages, towels, alcohol, and others of which he did not know the purpose. He had to wrap each of the towels several times around his hand before they were sufficient to staunch the bleeding; they were mostly threadbare, and a few were even cloaked in a fine layer of dust. He pressed them to Axel's wound, one at a time—he went through nearly the whole stack before the redhead's bleeding had stopped.

Pushing the towels to the side, Roxas unrolled a layer of bandages. He soaked one in alcohol and cleaned the wound, erasing all evidence of dried blood. He was certain that the pain of this would awaken the redhead, but he showed no sign of regaining consciousness. Once the cut was clean, Roxas had to unzip Axel's cloak, stretching the fabric over the cut and around his back until it covered the wound. He zipped up Axel's cloak again when he had finished and sat back on his knees.

"Axel, what am I to do?" he murmured.

Before he could think twice about it, he leaned down and let his mouth find Axel's. Stupidly, he found himself hoping that the action would bring Axel back to consciousness, as though he were merely some sort of sleeping princess or something. However, Axel was no princess, and as such he did not even stir.

As Roxas gazed down at Axel's blissfully unconscious expression, his ears picked up some hint of sound outside, in the hallway. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to believe it had only been a phantom, created by his mind in its desperate paranoia, but somehow he could not. He held his breath, waiting for the sound that was surely footsteps to pass, but instead he heard the squeak of the door grinding open and saw the light of a candle splitting the darkness. A man in a black cloak carried it. He had long black hair, streaked with gray and tied back in a ponytail. An eyepatch covered one of his eyes, and a long and jagged scar ran up the opposite side of his face.

"Back off!" Roxas exclaimed, jumping up from his spot on the floor and upending several rolls of bandages. The intruder responded by raising his hand and summoning a gun to his free hand.

"As if. You are the one who needs to back off… I am a member of the Organization, and I am armed, while you, my friend, are quite obviously not," the intruder snapped.

Roxas glanced around for something he could use as a weapon. He lunged for the desk full of medical supplies and came up bearing a pair of what looked like scissors. The intruder burst out laughing.

"Kid, do you really think you can best an assassin with a pair of scissors? Put those down before you cut yourself."

"Step back," Roxas commanded, holding out the scissors. "Come no closer."

"Kid," the intruder said again, giving a sigh of exasperation. "Get out. Let me see him."

Roxas's hand trembled, causing the blades of the scissors to shake. "N-no. I… I will not let you."

The intruder stepped forward, pushing the end of the gun to Roxas's throat and shoving him back against the wall. "I do not think you understand who you are going up against."

Roxas opened his mouth to speak, but the cloaked man just shoved him harder against the wall, making him wince.

"Try to speak a word, and I will put you in your place."

At that moment, Roxas saw Axel shift from his place on the ground a few meters away. "Xigbar," his weak voice rasped, "Let him up."

"Axel," the intruder—Xigbar—answered, his voice resigned, resentful. "What in the hell happened to you? You look like—"

"I know," Axel interrupted. "And it was Saïx."

Xigbar withdrew his gun, letting it vanish into thin air. "Saïx did that to you? But—wait, I thought you were—"

"No," Axel said, cutting him short again. "Xigbar, how long have you been paying attention exactly? If you have not noticed, our leader has departed quite dramatically from the ideology on which he founded the Organization."

"Paying attention?" Xigbar snorted. "Axel, I have not come back to this building in a year. Xemnas likely thinks I was lost on some trivial mission long ago."

Axel pushed himself up into a sitting position against the wall. "So you are with us, then."

"Who is 'us,' Axel?" Xigbar demanded. "The Organization? As opposed to what, the shadows?"

"It… does not work quite that way anymore," Axel answered. "Instead it is the Organization against the Organization. Xemnas against those of us who are not dead or not Saïx."

"Why Xemnas against us?"

"I—I do not know." Axel frowned. "What I do know is that he no longer has any interest in the shadows. Instead, he has taken to assassinating those of us who are left and destroying Hollow Victoria—as you have surely seen outside." He gestured to the window, wincing at the motion.

"Interesting… Well, all right, seeing as how I've already spared your lives, I might as well continue the favor," Xigbar said. "And there _is_ the fact that I do not at all understand why Xemnas would change his principles so suddenly. I suppose I am staying."

Roxas's legs went out from under him, and he slid to the floor.

"Speaking of staying, who the hell is this?" Xigbar demanded, gesturing to Roxas.

"That is… Roxas," Axel answered. "A friend."

Xigbar's eyes moved between Roxas and Axel a few times before he said, "I see."

"W-we need to stop Xemnas," Roxas stammered out, breaking the silence.

Xigbar shifted his weight to one leg and sighed. "Kid, I hate to break it to you, but nobody is in any condition to be playing the hero right now. I suggest you just stay where you are until it is over."

A million thoughts swam inside Roxas's head, reminding him of Saïx, of his classmates, of his brother, of his family and their apartment. Were they unharmed? Did they wonder where he had gone?

"But what if, when it is over…" he began. "What if Hollow Victoria is gone?"

Xigbar shook his head. "There is no way. Regardless of how much power Xemnas has, there is no way he could possibly bring down all of Hollow Victoria. I advise you to stay here."

Panic welled in Roxas's chest at the thought of having to stay confined within the same four walls while Xemnas continued to tear down the city's foundations. He pushed away from the wall and shot off toward the door, barely clearing the spot where Axel sat sprawled across the floor before a hand caught his arm and prevented him from going any further.

"Kid, what _do_ you think you are doing?" Xigbar demanded. Roxas tried to run again, but his feet only slipped against the floor, yielding no forward motion. "I told you to stay here."

"But—but—" Roxas stammered, twisting so that he looked directly at Xigbar. His betrayed stare met the cloaked man's uncompromising one.

"Look, kid," Xigbar said, "I can see you care a lot about Axel. You were willing to try to defend him with only a pair of scissors, for the love of Kingdom Hearts. But let me say this, would you really be willing to leave him here under only the supervision of a former Organization member?"

Roxas's face turned bright red at the mention of his relationship to Axel. He felt unspeakably vulnerable at the idea that a complete stranger had managed to pick up on it within only a few minutes of seeing them together. He didn't respond.

"Ahhh… That is what I thought," Xigbar answered. He released Roxas and slumped down in the chair that stood in front of the desk Roxas had torn apart to find medical supplies. "Well, I suppose we will stay here and wait it out… Axel, any status on the other members?"

"Marluxia is down," Axel said a little too quickly.

"Down, as in dead?" Xigbar asked. His only other reaction was to raise an eyebrow, making him look almost unconcerned.

"It could have been you," Axel replied.

"Of course it could have," Xigbar agreed. "Why do you think I have been treading with caution all these years?"

"I do not think you understand."

Xigbar continued to stare at Axel, awaiting his explanation.

"It was Xemnas who did it."

"Ah," Xigbar muttered. "Now it makes sense." He paced from one wall to the other, appearing to contemplate the walls around him.

"What I want to know is why," Axel said. "I mean, I understand that Marluxia attacked Xemnas, so naturally he… But why would Xemnas take things out on the whole of Hollow Victoria? What have they done to him?"

"Madness," Xigbar suggested. "Maybe they did not do anything. Perhaps he merely felt the need to destroy and so succumbed to the urge."

"But that does not make sense," Axel said, pressing his hands to his forehead.

"Well, if it is truly madness, there is no sense in it," Xigbar explained. "If—"

As soon as he began to speak, however, the shock of some unknown force against the side of the building cut him off. The entire room shook. Roxas hit the floor, and Xigbar stared up at the ceiling while a fine layer of dust drifted down from it with a low hiss, like an afterthought of mist.

"I—I thought you said we would be safe here," Roxas stammered.

"I never said that." Xigbar took a few steps toward the door. "I simply thought it would be the best place to take refuge if this storm insisted on touching down… 'Tis time to go."

"But—what about Axel?" Roxas asked.

"I will carry him if that is what it takes!" Xigbar snapped.

"I think I will be walking there myself, thank you," Axel replied, shooting an annoyed look at Xigbar. He stumbled into a standing position.

"Follow me," Xigbar said in a low voice. Somewhere not too far away, they could all hear the dull thud of another explosion and the rain of ash that followed. The Organization's headquarters were not invincible, perhaps quite the opposite. Roxas had no idea where else they had to go. He kept wondering what had become of his family's apartment and where he would have been had he not run away with Axel before taking his usual route to the academy.

When Xigbar led them out of the Organization's headquarters and under the ash-gray sky, now pockmarked with the orange light of fires against low clouds, Roxas looked up and whispered,

"When will it end?"

He received, of course, no answer.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Ahhh... It's been a month... Sorry for the delay. I'll try harder, I promise!_

_...Though I do feel like I'm repeating myself. Ehh._

_Anyway, hope you're enjoying this, and have a nice day. :D_


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